Through the Looking Glass
by RandomFan22
Summary: A story told through the eyes of Tracy. What happens when Tracy hits her head and wakes up to a whole new family?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

He was home early. Way too early in his opinion. He'd almost stopped at the taco stand just to see who was around, but by this time of the night everyone was paired up so he'd have stuck out like a sore thumb. Maureen had suggested they skip the movie and go straight to Muldoon's Point because of her early curfew. Who was he to deny her suggestion? After all, it wasn't her fault that her family was leaving on a vacation the next day really early. He'd only been too happy to comply with her suggestion.

They'd had a lot of fun, but it had ended too soon. Just as the favored teen parking spot was filling up, they'd had to cut out. Oh well, she was only gone for a week and they had a couple of shows in that time frame. He'd be back at the make-out spot with his girlfriend in no time. His mood brightened at the thought and he was still smiling when he walked through the door into the dark kitchen.

He pushed through the swinging door into the living room to find his Mom hanging up the phone with a frown on her face. "Hey, Mom."

"Oh good, you're home early." Shirley said quickly.

"I don't see what's so good about that." Keith joked.

"Oh, you." She smiled as she pulled him in for a quick hug. "I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Laurie's not home from her date yet and I didn't want to leave Danny and Chris home alone. I need you to go and pick Tracy up."

"Where's Tracy at this hour?" Keith asked surprised. It was early for him, 11:00 p.m., but it was very late for Tracy.

"Oh, after you left for your date, Tracy's new friend's mother called and asked if she could stay for a sleep over. They're new in town and her daughter Natalie is finding it hard to make friends. She and Tracy have hit it off and seeing her husband is out of town at a conference, she thought it would be nice for the girls to spend more time together." Shirley told him.

"So, why am I picking Tracy up if she's supposed to be sleeping over?" Keith asked confused.

"Because, Tracy woke up crying. She says she's scared." Shirley sighed.

"You're kidding. The kid performs in front of hundreds or even thousands of people at a time and she's scared of sleeping over?" Keith laughed.

"Keep in mind that we're always with her. She's not used to being away from us. I think she's homesick." Shirley informed him.

"Alright." Keith said as he turned to head back out. "Where am I going to pick her up?"

"The Foster's live on Elm. It's the big white house on the corner." Shirley told him.

"On my way." Keith stepped back into the night.

xoxo

He had pulled the station wagon to the curb and started walking toward the house. Before he could start up the steps to the porch, the front door flew open and a little girl with strawberry blond hair flying behind her bolted out and launched herself at him from the top step. He caught her with a grunt; her left knee making solid contact with his abdomen. He was grateful she hadn't come in any lower.

"Hey, there Munchkin." Keith said as he held her close.

Tracy sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder, winding her arms tightly around his neck.

"Hey, now, it's alright. I'm here." Keith said and pulled her back slightly so that he could meet her eyes. "Come on now. Dry those tears. Everything's alright."

Keith settled his forehead against his youngest sisters and winked at her quickly brightening face. "That's better. Now, what's with all the tears?"

Tracy pulled back in and whispered in her brother's ear. "I woke up and Laurie wasn't there. She's always there. I got scared."

Keith's face melted into a smile at Tracy's explanation. The woman watching from the porch couldn't help but notice how that smile transformed his face from handsome to downright gorgeous. She could understand why her daughters all seemed to have a crush on him – from the sixteen year old all the way down to the seven year old.

Keith's smile warmed Tracy's heart too as she pulled back after whispering her answer. Keith kissed her forehead and said, "Do you think you can get down now? You know, you're getting a little big to be carried around." Keith joked with her.

Tracy nodded, but didn't loosen her hold on his neck so Keith kept her hugged to his side.

Keith looked up to see a woman standing in the doorway. She was smiling softly at the scene in front of her. "Sorry for the intrusion into your night. I thought she'd be alright, but then the tears just wouldn't stop. I thought she might just make herself sick."

"It's alright. I was just getting home when you called." Keith assured her.

"I still can't believe you really are Keith Partridge." The woman blurted out and then actually blushed at Keith's confused look. "Sorry. My middle daughter has your posters plastered all over her room and when Tracy told me her last name I wondered. She told me the family sang for a living but it just didn't sink in at the time. She'll be upset that she was sleeping and you were actually at our house."

Keith smiled a little uncomfortably at the mention of a daughter who apparently had a crush on him. He was used to it, but it was still not a conversation he enjoyed having. "I'm sorry I missed her." Keith said being polite but secretly very glad that he didn't have to deal with the adoration.

Keith looked down to see a girl of Tracy's age of about 7 or so, peeking around her mother's legs. "Who do we have here?"

"Oh, this is Natalie." The woman introduced her and tried to get her to come out from behind her legs, but the little girl just blushed and almost knocked her mother off balance when she wrapped her arms around her legs and squeezed herself against them.

"Trace, why don't you introduce us?" Keith set Tracy down and urged her up the steps to introduce him to her new friend.

"Keith, this is Natalie. Natalie, this is my oldest brother Keith. He's neato." Tracy said grabbing his hand and pulling him even further forward. Her grip stayed tight. She wanted to make darn sure he didn't go home without her. She liked her new friend and even liked her mother, but it wasn't HER mom and it wasn't home.

"Well, thank you for the wonderful character analysis, Tracy." Keith joked and went down into a squat so that he was on a level with the young girl. "It's very nice to meet you, young lady."

Natalie peeked around her mother's legs once again and looked up at her mother to see her smiling tenderly at her and then shifting her gaze to the young man who was being so nice to her daughter. Natalie took this as tacit approval that he was alright to talk to.

"Tracy told me all about your family. It must be really cool." Natalie said quietly.

"You mean singing and performing?" At Natalie's confirming nod Keith continued, "Yeah, it is really cool. You'll have to come to one of our concerts. We sing around here pretty regularly."

"Can I go Mom?" Natalie asked breathlessly.

"Of course, honey. Now say goodnight. It's time for both of you to get some sleep." Mrs. Foster said.

"Oh, thank you!" Natalie said and then walked forward to kiss Keith on the cheek. "I think that would be the coolest present ever. And it's not even my birthday!"

Keith chuckled and stood back up, Tracy still firmly attached to his left hand. "Ready to go home, Squirt?"

Tracy nodded. "Alright, then, say goodnight to Mrs. Foster and thank her for letting you stay." Keith instructed.

"Thank you, Mrs. Foster. I really had a good time. Well at least until the end." Tracy qualified like all little girls are prone to do.

"You're welcome, Tracy. Come back again." When Tracy frowned at that thought, Mrs. Foster continued quickly. "Oh, not for a sleep over, just to play for the afternoon, hmmm?"

Tracy smiled her acceptance and Keith answered for her. "I think that can be arranged. Thanks again for taking such good care of her."

"You're welcome and apologize to your mother for me. I feel just awful making you come all this way to pick her up. I guess it was a little early in the friendship for Tracy to feel comfortable on a sleep-over." Mrs. Foster added.

"It was no problem. Good night." Keith said and turned around to walk away with his little sister. He stopped abruptly when he almost walked into a couple coming up the steps. "Oops, excuse me. I didn't see you there."

"Ohmygod, you're Keith Partridge." The teenage girl stammered.

Keith smiled uncomfortably, pulled Tracy in front of him like a shield and turned his gaze to the guy behind her. "Hi Chuck. How's it going?"

"Pretty good, Keith. I tried telling her she'd see you around town, but she wouldn't believe me. Well, actually, I told her that she'd likely see you if she came to Muldoon's Point with me, but we went to the taco stand instead." Chuck laughed. Most new girls in town had much the same reaction. They just couldn't or wouldn't believe that Keith Partridge walked among the masses.

"Hey, no fair. I'm not always at Muldoon's Point." Keith tried pointing out.

"Yes you are." Tracy looked up at Keith and smiled innocently.

"Oh, and how do you know that?" Keith frowned at his kid sister.

"Danny told me." Tracy said as if everything Danny said was gospel.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't believe everything Danny says." Keith reminded her.

"I would, kid. Your older brother definitely has a reputation." Chuck winked at Tracy.

Keith quickly put his hands over Tracy's ears. "Chuck, could we not have this conversation here?"

The girl, tired of being ignored, turned and smacked Chuck on the arm, "Keith's right. You shouldn't talk like that in front of his sister or mine for that matter."

She added in her head, much less in front of my mother. She then put on her best smile and turned to Keith saying, "I'm Emily. Emily Foster. I live here."

"I guessed that." Keith said and then noticed her looking down quickly. He hadn't meant to embarrass her, so he quickly tried to cover. "So, you're new in town. How do you like it so far?"

"It's really a nice town and the people are really friendly." Emily wanted to keep him around as long as possible so she asked a question. "What are you doing here? Not that you shouldn't be here." She quickly added when she realized how the question might sound like she didn't want him there.

"I'm here to pick up my little sister. Apparently the planned sleep-over wasn't such a big hit." Keith mentioned.

Mrs. Foster, realizing that her eldest daughter would keep Keith talking for hours if given the chance, quickly spoke up. "Emily, it's getting late and Keith needs to get Tracy home. Why don't you come inside now?"

Chuck was disappointed because he knew he wasn't going to get his good night kiss at the door, but he could do nothing to change it as Emily was forced to smile her goodnight and go inside.

"See you around Partridge." Chuck said as he headed toward his car.

"Yeah, see ya, Chuck." Keith said as he opened the passenger door on the car for Tracy.

All the way home, his once almost hysterical sister chatted happily about how much fun she'd had at the Foster house. Keith just smiled at her quick change in moods and answered her when she asked a question. Fickle females; was all he could think.

xoxo

Keith Partridge was the talk of the breakfast table at the Foster home the next morning.

"Mooommmm, why didn't you wake me!" Terry the middle daughter asked.

"I told you, it was going on midnight when he came." Mrs. Foster explained patiently for the third time.

"But both Natalie and Emily got to meet him. It's not fair. I'm the one with all the posters up. I should have been the one to meet him." Terry continued to complain.

"Terry, that's enough. I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to meet him. We've only been in town for less than a week." Mrs. Foster tried again to appease her daughter.

"Yeah, Chuck told me that he's out and about like a regular guy all the time. I don't know how he doesn't get mobbed, but that's what he told me." Emily said.

"You're kidding. I'd run up to him and grab him and hug him and kiss him…." Terry babbled excitedly about her mad crush.

Mrs. Foster just smiled at her daughter who would likely freeze up if she ever got the chance to see Keith up close. She'd probably end up hiding behind her just like Natalie had.

"I did kiss him." Natalie told her jealous sister.

"You what?" Terry squeaked.

"He bent down to talk to me and I kissed him." Natalie said again.

"Mooommm!" Terry started again.

xoxo

Over the next few days, every time that Tracy came to the Foster's house, Emily and Terry made sure they were present. And each time, they were disappointed. Keith never came back. It was always Shirley or even once Reuben brought her over on his way out of town. The girls were terribly disappointed; especially Terry who hadn't had a chance to even see him that first time.

That weekend, Natalie was bored because the family was out of town performing. She drove her older sister's crazy bugging them to play with her. Emily and Terry couldn't wait for Tracy to get back for more than one reason.

On Monday, Emily jumped at the chance to take Natalie over to the Partridge residence. She grabbed the car keys and her sister's hand almost before the request was out of her mother's mouth. "Sure, Mom. No problem. See you in a bit."

She was once again disappointed as Keith wasn't home. She did get to meet Laurie and they soon started talking about the approaching school year. They made a date to go shopping the next day and Emily soon forgot her disappointment of not seeing Keith again. She would be very happy to have a girlfriend before the school year started. New schools could be brutal. She knew. This was her third new school in just over six years.

Emily went to pick her sister up later that day only to find that Keith wasn't home again. On the drive home, she sighed heavily and Natalie asked, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing really. I was hoping to run into Keith, that's all." Emily admitted. "He wasn't home either time I was over there today."

"Oh, he was home. He was in the garage." Natalie told her.

"The garage. Why the garage?" Emily asked surprised.

"It's where they have their instruments set up. They let me listen to a practice today. It was kinda boring." Natalie said honestly. Seven year old girls were quickly bored by the repeating of the same song over and over until they got it right.

"Boring?! How can you say that? That would have been so groovy." Emily quickly brought her startled eyes back to the road when a car honked at her for drifting over the center line. "Well, maybe after Laurie and I get to know each other better I'll get a chance to see them rehearse too. Natty, you are one lucky cookie." Emily teased.

"Don't call me that!" Natalie shouted. "I hate that name."

"Oops, sorry I forgot. I'll try to stop. I promise." Emily soothed.

When they got home, Terry was all over both of them for information.

"I'm telling you I didn't see him." Emily told Terry for at least the third time.

"But you did!" Terry turned to Natalie. "What was he wearing? What did he say? Did he talk to you?"

"I don't know. I didn't notice what he was wearing. What does that matter?" Natalie tossed a cross look at her sister.

"Oh, cause his eye color changes depending on what he's wearing. How can you not notice? You are such a baby." Terry said loftily.

"I am not! I'm seven. That's not a baby!" Natalie defended herself.

"Natty, Natty, Bo Batty, Bananana Fo Fatty!" Terry teased.

"You're mean! Keith never treats Tracy mean." Natalie sniffed.

"Oh, right. He's a teenager and she's seven just like you. There's no way he's nice to her all the time." Terry informed her younger sister from her lofty age of twelve.

"Yes, he is. Just ask her the next time she's here." Natalie pouted.

"I'll do that. You'll see I'm right." Terry walked away from her sister who was close to crying.

xoxo

The next time Tracy was over, Terry did just that. She asked Tracy if Keith was always nice to her and Tracy said he was. When Terry almost called her a liar, Tracy smiled smugly and told her she could prove it.

"Oh, yeah? How?" Terry challenged her.

"I don't know." Tracy admitted. How would she prove that no matter how crabby and tired she was Keith was always nice to her?

"See, just like I thought. You can't prove it." Terry didn't realize that by challenging Tracy she was challenging her own views on her crush. Why she was trying to prove he was mean to his sister, she didn't know. Maybe because she was sometimes mean to her own sisters.

Tracy didn't answer her, but she thought about it the rest of the day. She wanted to prove the older girl wrong, but how?

xoxo

Tracy eventually formulated a plan. The plan was simple. She would make Keith pay attention to her as often as possible. She started doing this by sitting next to him whenever he was home. Sometimes he ignored her, other times, he pulled her in for a hug and kept her tucked to his side while he read or watched TV. She found that she liked when he was affectionate towards her.

When she told Terry about her plan, Terry laughed and said it proved nothing. So Tracy went back home and tried something more obvious. She would stand on a chair and tell Keith to catch her. She'd sit on the piano when they rehearsed and tell Keith to catch her when she jumped off. She'd jump from the fourth to the bottom stair and yell for Keith to catch her.

So far, she'd been lucky and Keith's quick reactions had saved her each time. After a couple of days of this, Keith was growing curious as to why she was doing it. He had to know.

"Tracy what's with the 'catch me' routine?" Keith asked after catching her from her leap off the piano at rehearsal.

"Just proving something." Tracy said.

"To who? And what are you proving?" Keith asked.

"Nothing." Tracy said evasively and squirmed to be put down. When Keith set her down, she ran out of the garage.

"What was that about?" Laurie asked.

"I'm not sure. Have you noticed her jumping off of things and expecting me to catch her?" Keith's puzzled eyes followed her out of the door.

"Yeah, I wonder what that's about." Laurie agreed.

"No idea. But I'd sure like to find out." Keith said and turned to put his guitar back in its case.

xoxo

The next weekend, they were performing at a supper club in Sacramento. As usual, Tracy was standing on top of a box so that she could be seen while she stood next to Chris on the drums behind the rest of the family. The performance had gone well and Keith was walking past her with his guitar in his left hand when Tracy yelled, "Catch me!" and jumped.

It was an almost fatal mistake. Tracy hadn't accounted for her slippery dress shoes, or the fact that she'd let Keith get too far away from her. His back was turned as he set the guitar in its stand when he heard her yell the all too familiar phrase.

"Look out!" Laurie shouted as Keith turned quickly toward his little sister.

Tracy pushed off like usual, but her shoes slipped on the acrylic surface of the box and she never did get airborne like she expected. Instead, she lost her balance and slid sideways, hitting her head on the side of the piano and crashing heavily to the stage.

"Ohmygod!" Shirley said from the other side of the stage. "Tracy!"

"Trace?" Keith was next to her first as he'd been trying to get back to her to catch her. He gently brushed her hair away from her face but didn't try to move her.

Shirley raced around her keyboard and dropped to her knees beside Keith.

"No, Mom, don't move her!" Laurie shouted as she came around the piano. "You don't know where she's hurt."

Shirley, in her panic, hadn't thought about that but thanked her lucky stars that Laurie had. "Call an ambulance. Quick!" Shirley yelled to whoever would listen.

Reuben, who'd been standing, shocked, just off-stage raced to do her bidding.

Within minutes, he was back and put his hand on Shirley's shoulder. "The ambulance is on its way. How is she?"

"I'm not sure. She won't wake up." Shirley said through tears. "Tracy, please. Can you hear me?"

Keith, Laurie, Danny and Chris stood a little away from them in shock.

"I'm really sorry, Mom." Keith said quietly.

"What are you sorry about?" Shirley asked distractedly.

"I should have caught her." Keith blamed himself for this accident.

"It's not your fault. She shouldn't have been jumping and expecting you to catch her. It's my fault. I meant to make her stop, but I forgot with all the extra things to do right before a show. It's my fault." Shirley assured him.

Laurie put her arm around Keith to let him know that she didn't blame him either.

"Shirl, it's not your fault either. It was an accident. Besides, she's going to be fine. You'll see." Reuben patted her shoulder hoping it was helping.

xoxo

_An hour later, Shirley was allowed into the emergency exam room and found her groggy but conscious youngest daughter smiling at her tiredly._

"_Hi baby. How are you feeling?" Shirley asked as she came up beside her and gently brushed her bangs off her forehead. _

"_My head hurts." Tracy blinked as if the light hurt her eyes. "Where am I?" _

"_You're in the hospital. You hit your head." Shirley smiled softly and continued. "How'd you like to see your dad and your brothers and sister?"_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"_Daddy?" Tracy said in confusion. She had very few memories of her father other than the ones her older brothers and sister shared with her. He'd died before she'd had a chance to make memories with him, hadn't he?_

"_Just lie back. I'll go get them." Shirley smiled at her and walked out of the room. _

_Tracy closed her eyes to help keep the pain at bay. She heard the door open again and her eyes sprang open to see her sister walk in first. _

"_Hey, Trace. How're you feeling?" Laurie said as she walked over to her. She was wearing torn bell bottom jeans, a tie-dyed shirt and a headband around her long messy hair. This was definitely not normal for her. _

_Tracy frowned but answered, "I'm ok, I guess."_

_Tracy's eyes traveled to Danny and Chris. Chris looked normal to her, but Danny seemed shy and reserved. He hung back toward the door and barely raised his eyes from the floor. She'd expected him to bound in and hop up on the side of her bed to see how she was doing. Tracy had little time to reflect on this when Keith came stumbling through the door. Well, at least she thought it was Keith. His hair was still long, but it was slicked back with some kind of hair gel and he was wearing a leather jacket and ripped jeans. _

"_Hey, no need to get pushy." Keith said to someone over his shoulder. He resettled his jacket on his shoulders and walked around Tracy's bed to put some distance between whoever had shoved him into the room. _

_Next came Mr. Kincaid, he was straightening his tie as if he'd just gone through a scuffle. He smiled at Tracy and said, "Hi there, little Miss Sunshine."_

"_Hi, Mr. Kincaid." Tracy answered his smile with one of her own._

"_Oh, come on now, I've asked you several times to at least call me Uncle Reuben, if not Dad." Reuben said as he moved to pick up Tracy's little hand._

"_Dad?" Tracy murmured._

"_See? That wasn't so hard was it?" Reuben kissed her knuckles._

_Tracy looked around the room in almost a panic. No one thought Mr. Kincaid's words were strange. They all seemed to accept it. What was going on here? Who were these people? Where was her Mommy?_

"_Mommy?" Tracy said near panic._

"_I'm right here honey." Shirley moved further into the room. She'd been standing by the door letting the rest of the family see her before taking her normal post next to her youngest daughter._

_Seeing Tracy's look of fear, Shirley moved quickly to her side and grabbed her hand from Reuben's. Reuben put his arm around Shirley and she leaned thankfully into his strength. The fear for her daughter had really taken a lot out of her._

_Tracy motioned for her mother to lean down by her and then whispered, "Mommy, why is Mr. Kincaid asking me to call him Dad?"_

"_Why? Because he's your step-father now, Sweetie." Shirley informed her with a smile._

_Tracy blinked at her mother's words. Oh, she liked Mr. Kincaid well enough. He was a really good manager and he'd always been nice to her. But, did she want him as a daddy? She knew she was too young to understand adult relationships, but she had no idea at all that her Mom and Mr. Kincaid were anything more than friends. _

_Maybe things would be better – maybe things would change if she could just go home and go to sleep in her own bed. She'd wake up and find this was all a dream._

"_Mommy, I want to go home." Tracy begged._

"_Soon, Sweetie. They're releasing you in a few hours or so. I won't leave your side until then, alright?" Shirley assured her._

"_Ok." Tracy closed her eyes and clung to her mother's hand. She needed to block out all of the strange visions she was seeing. She pressed her eyelids closed tightly and counted to ten. She tentatively opened them up and found the same strange group of people standing around her. The only people who looked normal were her Mom, Mr. Kincaid and Chris, but they weren't the same at all, were they?_

_She tried closing her eyes again as tight as she could. When she opened them again, her family was still standing around her watching her with puzzled looks on their faces. But, darn it, they didn't change back into their old selves. _

"_Trace, is something wrong?" Laurie asked. She'd moved to stand next to Keith who was leaning nonchalantly against the wall on the opposite side of her bed from Mr. Kincaid and her mom._

"_Laurie, why are you dressed so weird?" Tracy couldn't help but ask._

_Laurie quickly looked down at her clothes and said, "What's so weird about the way I'm dressed?"_

"_You look messy." Tracy pointed out._

"_Ha, that's a good one." Keith grinned at Laurie who looked shocked at her little sister lying in the bed._

"_You shut up." Laurie shot at Keith and then looked at Tracy. "What is so messy about what I'm wearing?"_

"_Your clothes look old and dirty. You usually wear new clean clothes. And, your hair isn't neatly combed." Tracy remembered._

_Keith leaned in to Laurie and whispered something in her ear that Tracy couldn't hear. Laurie smacked him on the shoulder and shot him a dirty look before turning back to Tracy and saying. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this is how I always dress. It's very popular right now."_

_Tracy gave up on Laurie and turned to Keith, "Why's your hair all greasy?"_

_Keith's grin fell off his face and he turned to look quickly at his littlest sister. "It's not greasy, it's slicked back."_

"_What the difference?" Tracy asked innocently._

"_Just the word." Laurie cracked and grinned back at her brother in payback for his earlier comments._

_Tracy just looked at Keith and waited for an explanation. Keith shot a dirty look at Laurie and then said to Tracy, "It helps keep my hair out of my eyes when I'm riding."_

"_Riding what?" Tracy asked._

"_My bike." Keith replied._

"_You don't have a bike. You gave it to Chris years ago." Tracy reminded him._

"_Not a pedal bike, Squirt. My motorcycle." Keith told her._

"_I'm pretty sure you had to peddle it when you first got it." Laurie teased him._

"_Not any more and you know it. I've been working on it for weeks. Now it rides like a dream. I'll show you if you're not too chicken." Keith glared at her._

"_You will not!" Shirley shot from across the bed. "I forbid you to take your sister on that dangerous contraption."_

"_I think I'd like that." Laurie glared at her mother and turned to Keith. "I'll ride home with you instead of in the car."_

"_You're on. Better be prepared to hold on tight." Keith grinned back. He was completely prepared to scare the pants off her._

"_Reuben." Shirley looked over her shoulder at Mr. Kincaid for help._

"_I'll talk to him as soon as we leave the room." Reuben said quietly in her ear._

_Tracy's eyes bounced from one side of the bed to the other watching the reactions. Shirley had looked hurt and then relieved. Reuben looked plain old angry. _

_The two teenage siblings glared at the adults across from them. Laurie looked defiant and Keith looked downright belligerent. _

"_It won't do you any good." Laurie informed them. "You know I'll do whatever I want."_

"_Come on Keith, let's go now." Laurie grabbed his leather clad arm and then turned to Tracy. "See you later, Trace."_

_Keith ruffled Tracy's hair and silently followed his sister out of the room glaring at Reuben the whole time._

_Tracy looked over to find Danny leaning against the wall his eyes still cast to the floor. Why hadn't he said anything through all this? He always had an opinion and wasn't shy about sharing it. Usually._

"_Danny?" Tracy called from the bed._

_Danny glanced up furtively but stayed where he was. Tracy called to him again and he finally shuffled over to the bed.  
_

"_Hey, Tracy." Danny mumbled._

"_Danny, what's wrong with you?" Tracy asked._

"_Nothin'." Danny told her while he looked at the tips of his shoes._

"_Why aren't you talking?" Tracy asked. "You're always talking."_

"_A person shouldn't speak unless he has something important to say." Danny informed her quietly._

"_But you always have something 'portant to say." Tracy reminded him._

"_Not today." Danny said and shuffled back to the door._

_Chris, tired of being ignored, jumped up onto the side of the bed. "So, do you remember how you fell?"_

"_No. I don't." Tracy smiled at him. He was the only one who seemed normal to her._

"_That's good." Chris didn't want anyone to know, but he'd pushed Tracy out of the tree house. It was for boys only and she'd tried to join them. _

"_Why is that good?" Shirley asked him._

"_Oh, cause remembering might scare her." Chris quickly covered._

"_That's true. So, what did you say happened again?" Shirley asked him._

"_Tracy was climbing up the tree house steps when her foot slipped. Before Danny or I could catch her, she fell. Right Danny?" Chris looked hard at his brother to make sure he remembered to stick to their story. Chris had threatened to blame Danny if he told on him._

"_Right. Whatever." Danny mumbled._

_Shirley frowned, but couldn't contradict his story without someone telling her differently. It was possible that Tracy had just fallen._

"_Oh my!" Shirley said when she heard a loud noise outside the hospital window. She ran over to the window and put her hand over her mouth. "Oh, Reuben. They're leaving."_

_Reuben walked over to the window to watch the departure with his wife. "Guess I should have left when they did. Sorry, honey."_

"_They don't have helmets on and look at them. He's going way too fast for the parking lot." Shirley worried from her view a few floors up. "Oh, dear lord, that car almost hit them."_

"_He's better on that thing than I thought he was." Reuben commented._

"_Reuben, really. Does it matter how good he is on that thing if he drives so recklessly?" Shirley grabbed his hand as she watched their progress away from the hospital._

"_Probably not." Reuben admitted. "But it can't hurt."_

"_I just wish I could get him to wear a helmet." Shirley leaned more heavily into Reuben as she fretted._

"_At those speeds it wouldn't matter." Reuben pointed out but then felt Shirley tense and added, "I'll talk to him about it tonight, hmmmm?"_

"_I'd appreciate that." Shirley smiled at him hopefully. She didn't really expect it to work, but at least trying would make her feel better. _

_xoxo_

_They were able to bring Tracy home later that evening and expected to see lights on in the house from Keith and Laurie. The house was eerily dark. Where could they be? They'd left the hospital hours before the rest of the family. _

_Shirley bustled Tracy up to her room and changed her into her pajamas._

"_Do you want something to eat before you go to sleep?" Shirley asked as she brushed her daughter's hair gently making sure to not hurt the lump on the side of her head._

"_Can I have some ice cream?" Tracy asked hopefully._

"_Of course you can, sweetheart. Let's go on down and see if your brothers want some too, hmmmm?" Shirley set the brush aside and grabbed her hand._

"_Ok. What about Keith and Laurie?" Tracy thought to add._

"_Well, they're not back yet." Shirley reasoned._

"_Where are they Mommy? Aren't you worried?" Tracy asked as they started down the stairs._

"_I don't know honey and you're right I'm very worried." Shirley readily agreed._

_A short time later, Shirley's three youngest were sitting around the kitchen table eating heaping bowls of ice cream. She'd been extra generous in thankfulness of Tracy's being home so soon after her accident._

_They were just finishing up when Keith and Laurie came through the back door laughing happily. Tracy loved the sound of their shared laughter. It was so genuine and one could easily find themselves laughing along without knowing the joke._

"_God, that was fun. Can we do it again soon?" Laurie turned around to look at Keith behind her._

"_Yeah, sure. It was a whole lot of fun." Keith answered._

"_Where have you two been?" Shirley asked after setting the bowls in the sink._

"_Around." Keith's laughter died a quick death after looking at his Mom's angry face._

"_Don't sass your mother." Reuben answered from his seat at the table. He was sipping on a cup of coffee having joined the kids for an ice cream treat._

"_Sure thing, Reuben." Keith said sarcastically. "Mother, we took a ride to the coast. It's really quite lovely this time of year."_

_Laurie hid a grin behind her hand at Keith's obvious rebelliousness. _

"_Listen here young man." Reuben started to rise from his chair._

"_Reuben, not with the little ones present." Shirley quickly reminded him. "Danny, why don't you take your brother and sister up to bed? Can you do that for me?"_

"_Sure Mom." Danny said quickly without looking up. He grabbed Chris and Tracy's hands and lead them out of the room. When they got to the turn in the stairs, Chris broke away from Danny's hold and sat down on the steps. Tracy, not knowing who all these strangers in her house were, decided to stay with him to try to find out more._

"_Come on you two. We'll get caught." Danny tried to pull them both up the stairs._

"_Look, if you're too chicken to stay then go to bed. We'll tell them we came back after you put us to bed." Chris assured him to shush him._

"_No you won't. You'll tell them that staying was all my idea." Danny reminded him._

"_You're probably right. So sit down and shut up so we don't get caught." Chris waved his hand at him. "Shhhh….they're coming into the living room just like I thought they would."_

_Tracy looked at her brother who was the closest in age to her. When had he become such a bossy guy? He was usually the follower, not the leader. But then again, Danny was acting weird too. He was usually the one who hid on the stairs to spy on the adults. Something Tracy had never considered doing before tonight. Keith and Laurie were acting strange too. The only normal one was her Mommy, yet she kept telling her she was married to Mr. Kincaid. _

_When was she going to wake from this nightmare?_

_xoxo_

"_Keith, I'm worried enough when it's just you on that metal contraption. Must you take your sister with you?" Shirley asked._

"_Oh for pete's sake, mother. I'm old enough to make my own decisions. It was my idea to ride with Keith." Laurie reminded her. "I can't remember when I had so much fun."_

"_You're a natural. It was almost like riding by myself." Keith bumped his leather clad shoulder into his sister's._

"_That's probably because I was plastered to your back for the first half of the ride. By then I knew what to expect." Laurie laughed back. "That winding road was a real trip!"_

"_Reuben, help." Shirley said softly over her shoulder to the man who had put his hands on her shoulders in support._

"_Look, the two of you need to respect your mother's wishes. She's asked you not to take such risks with the bike." Reuben started._

"_What risks?" Keith sneered. "We were never in any danger."_

"_Keith, I saw you leave the parking lot at the hospital and almost get hit by that car." Shirley told him._

"_Well, now, you can't blame that one on me. The idiot wasn't watching where he was going. Besides, it was my right-of-way." Keith reasoned._

"_That's not the point. You had your sister on the back. You need to be more careful. I've asked you several times to wear a helmet. Why won't you do that much for me?" Shirley almost begged._

"_What? And ruin my hair?" Keith joked._

"_That can be solved. I'll just take a razor to all that hair and give you a military buzz cut." Reuben suggested snidely._

"_I'd like to see you try." Keith challenged him._

_Reuben moved around Shirley and advanced on the sneering teenager. "That's enough out of you young man."_

"_What are you gonna do about it? Huh?" Keith stood up straight and glared at the larger man approaching him quickly._

"_I'll tell you what I'm going to do…." Reuben got no further before Shirley cut him off._

"_Now, please, let's not argue." She said._

"_Who's arguing? All I see is your supposed husband trying too hard to act like he's my father." Keith threw down the gauntlet but wasn't prepared for the outcome. _

_Before he could blink, Reuben's left hand came up and backhanded Keith across the mouth. Keith's head snapped to the side just as both Shirley and Laurie gasped in surprise.  
_

"_Reuben!" Shirley stepped forward to grab Reuben's arm to make sure he didn't strike her son again._

_Keith's head came slowly back around and his eyes now snapped with anger. He put a hand up to his mouth and pulled back his fingers to see that Reuben had drawn blood._

"_Oh, Keith, you're bleeding." Laurie's comments confirmed what Keith had just discovered._

"_Touch me again, and you'll regret it." Keith snarled. "But, remember this, the next time, I won't just stand here and take it."_

_On those words, Keith turned and walked to the front door. Tracy watching from the steps, gasped when she saw the trail of blood dripping down from his split lip. She began to cry softly._

"_Keith, wait! Take me with you!" Laurie said and ran after Keith before he could reach the front door._

"_Not this time." Keith turned and put his hand up to stop her forward momentum. "I'll see you when I see you, huh?"_

"_Keith, don't leave me here with them. Not by myself." Laurie pled._

"_He won't touch you. Even he knows better than to hit a girl." Keith glared at Reuben and then turned his angry eyes on his weeping mother. "Enjoy your life as a married woman. It's just cost you one son. Adios!"_

_On that, Keith slammed out of the front door and his motorcycle roared away moments later._

"_You'd choose him…" Laurie gestured at Reuben "over your own son?"_

"_Laurie…." Shirley tried to explain but Laurie didn't wait around any longer. She headed for the stairs and her quickly retreating younger brothers and sister._

_Tracy had just jumped onto the bed, pulled up the covers and closed her eyes when Laurie entered their shared room and plopped down onto the bed in tears. Tracy watched her through her lashes. She sobbed uncontrollably for several minutes before finally quieting down. She finally got up to grab the box of Kleenex to blow her nose and wipe her eyes. _

_She went and sat over by the window to watch the moon rise over the treetops. _

xoxo

"Mrs. Partridge." A doctor in scrubs entered the waiting room and ran his eyes over the expectantly waiting family still in their stage costumes. When he located the one he was looking for, he proceeded forward and extended his hand to the woman who had jumped up and then just stood there, not sure what to do.

"I'm Dr. Walsh. I'm a pediatric neurosurgeon. Your daughter has a small skull fracture and she's formed a hematoma on the right side of her brain. She's still unconscious and will likely stay that way until the blood dissipates and the brain swelling goes down." The doctor told her as gently as possible.

"What does that mean? She'll wake up? Right?" Shirley asked confused.

"She should, but we're not sure." Dr. Walsh admitted.

"When will we know?" Laurie asked from behind her mother.

"It could be very soon, it could be a couple of days." Dr. Walsh's eyes moved from Shirley to the rest of her worried family. "You can go in and see her two at a time. Don't stay too long. She can hear you, so talk to her while you're in there."

"Thank you, Dr. Walsh." Reuben said and moved up to shake his hand. Shirley was still in too much shock to say anything. "Please let us know if anything new develops."

"I'll be here all night. If you have any questions, please just have one of the nurses find me." Dr. Walsh assured them and then left them to go back to his patients.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Tracy wasn't tired. Maybe because she'd slept on and off throughout the day, but she had no problem staying up to watch what Laurie would do. So far, she'd just sat at the window and sniffed occasionally as her tears seemed to have dried up. She'd watched her tense when there had been footsteps down the hallway, but they'd gone past. _

_Laurie had looked like she might be planning to finally go to bed when Tracy had seen her pause and then joyfully push the window open. _

"_Keith? Is that you?" Laurie whispered to the shadow below._

"_Yeah, I'll be right up." Came a disembodied voice and then Tracy heard a light thump on the side of the house._

_Laurie stayed watching out the window until she finally backed up once Keith's face appeared in the opening. _

"_Am I glad to see you." Laurie said as she grabbed his arm to pull him in the room._

"_Why? He didn't hit you did he?" Keith asked surprised. He'd been so sure Laurie was safe._

_Laurie thought about lying, but only for a second. She'd have been only too happy if Keith had agreed to take her with him when he left again. And, she knew he wasn't staying for long. It was written in every line of his body. _

"_Why are you back so soon?" Laurie whispered._

"_I need my stash." Keith told her and then added at her look of confusion. "My weed."_

"_Oh. I should have known." Laurie knew her brother smoked pot and where he hid it. She'd actually moved it once for him so that he wouldn't get caught. She'd never told him about it, but she'd been tempted several times to try some herself. Up until today she'd always talked herself out of it. _

"_Yeah, you should have. Are HE and Mom in bed?" Keith said snidely._

"_Yeah, I heard them walk by about ten minutes ago. I doubt they're asleep yet though." Laurie told him._

"_Well, do you mind sneaking to my room and getting it for me?" Keith asked._

"_Only if you leave me one." Laurie negotiated._

"_No way." Keith answered quickly._

"_Then get it yourself." Laurie turned her back on him._

"_Fine. I'll leave you one joint." Keith grudgingly agreed. He'd been running low and didn't like the idea of giving any up. It just meant he needed to get some cash to replenish and soon. The money he had hidden in the bag wouldn't last him long._

"_Groovy. I'll be right back." Laurie peeked out the door and then quietly slipped out. _

_While she was gone, Keith sat down on the end of her bed and leaned forward dejectedly. He tensed when the door reopened but relaxed as soon as he recognized Laurie's shadow._

"_Here you go." Laurie put a small paper bag in his hand._

"_Thanks. Hey wait a minute. I never told you where to find it." Keith finally realized she'd left the room without his telling her where to look._

"_I've known for months where you hide all your most personal stuff." Laurie told him._

"_All?" Keith asked in surprise._

"_Yep, even the poetry you've started writing." Laurie smirked._

"_It's not poetry. It's song lyrics." Keith told her in self defense. Tracy's ears perked up. This was the first sign that Keith was the brother she remembered._

"_You? Writing song lyrics?" Laurie scoffed._

"_Yeah, what's so weird about that?" Keith stood up._

"_Well, as far as I know, you have no musical talent whatsoever. You can't even read music." Laurie laughed softly._

"_You don't need to read music to pound out a beat on the drums or to write lyrics." Keith reminded her._

"_I suppose not, but_ c_an you even carry a tune?" Laurie asked. She couldn't remember hearing him sing since he was a little kid._

"_None of your business." Keith said defensively and reached into the bag. "Here's your joint. See you later."_

"_Keith, wait!" Laurie said and grabbed his arm to stop him. "Where are you going to sleep?"_

"_Don't worry about me. I'll find someplace." Keith assured her and tried to break away._

"_No, really, where are you going to crash?" Laurie tried again._

_Keith finally sighed and admitted. "I have no idea. My girlfriend's parents would never let me stay there. I don't think any of the guys would put me up either."_

"_Why don't you crash on the floor?" Laurie suggested._

"_And risk Reuben or Mom finding me here? No way!" Keith said passionately._

"_Keith, please, just stay." Laurie begged him to stay. She knew that if he left she wouldn't be able to sleep for worrying about him._

"_I will not spend another night under the same roof with that...man." Keith brought his hand up to his swollen lip in memory._

"_How is it? Does it hurt much?" Laurie asked as she gently touched his swollen lip once Keith's hand had dropped._

"_It's fine. He's just lucky I didn't swing back." Keith threatened._

"_Yeah, he is. I've seen you in a couple of fights. You're downright nasty." Laurie said with pride._

"_You know it." Keith agreed and then headed again toward the window._

"_Keith, seriously. Stay here tonight. I'll wake you up before they get up." Laurie tried one more time._

"_No way." Keith answered._

"_But, Keith it's not safe out there by yourself. Let me come with you." Laurie tried cutting him off at the window._

"_Laurie, I'm a lot safer without you to worry about. Besides, I've got my knife. I'll be fine. Really." Keith assured her once again before grabbing her by the shoulders and moving her away from the window. _

"_When will I see you again?" Laurie sadly watched him swing his leg over the window sill. _

"_I'm not sure. I'll try to get word to you on where I'm staying. Alright?" Keith tried to reassure her._

_Laurie could only nod. She was once again close to tears. _

_Tracy watched Laurie close the window behind their departed brother, get ready for bed and then lie down to try to get some sleep. Once there was no more activity in the room, Tracy soon lost her fight to remain awake._

_xoxo_

_Tracy's dream to have things return to normal once she woke up in her bed were quickly ruined when she was woken by a shouting match in the hallway._

"_He's not here because of you!" Laurie shouted._

"_I will not tolerate the way he treats your mother." Reuben yelled back._

"_He didn't treat her bad until you came along. In fact, he only treats her bad when she takes your side in every single argument. It's you he can't stand." Laurie pointed out._

"_That's enough young lady. Apparently he's been rubbing off on you. You've become way too outspoken for your own good." Reuben said in a softer voice but still loud enough for Tracy to hear through the partially opened door._

"_I'll take that as a compliment." And on those words, Laurie stormed past him and came back into her bedroom._

"_Oh, hey, Peanut. How're you feeling?" Laurie asked as soon as she noticed Tracy's wide-eyed stare._

"_Ok." Tracy said meekly._

_Laurie smiled at her and turned away to finish getting ready for the new day. She put on her funky clothes and ran a comb haphazardly through her hair. While it was still wet, she tied a headband around the strands and sat down to put on her shoes._

"_You gonna lay in bed all day?" Laurie tossed over her shoulder._

"_No, I'm getting up." Tracy said to her sister's quickly retreating back._

_xoxo_

_Tracy came down the stairs just as the front doorbell rang. Shirley walked by to open it to Natalie and her mother._

"_Natalie!" Tracy practically screamed. Finally, someone normal._

"_Tracy!" Natalie screeched and ran to hug her friend._

"_Hello, Mrs. Kincaid. I hope you don't mind my dropping her off like this. I'm desperate." Mrs. Foster said quickly._

"_No, it's fine. You go and take care of your sick mother. Natalie can stay as long as you need." Shirley smiled at her._

"_Oh, I'll be by to pick her up before it gets dark." Mrs. Foster assured her._

"_No problem. If things don't work out and you get held up, just give me a call." Shirley mentioned again._

"_Oh, I couldn't let Natalie be around when…..well, is Keith home now?" Mrs. Foster asked a little uncomfortably._

"_No, actually, he isn't." Shirley said stiffly. _

_Tracy watched this conversation with interest. Why didn't Mrs. Foster want Keith around? Natalie had a crush on him just like her sisters did._

"_Well, I'm sure you understand about my concern for his 'type' being around any of my daughters." Mrs. Foster said in a stage whisper._

"_What type is that?" Tracy asked curiously._

_Mrs. Foster just blushed and took her leave quickly. "Mommy, what did she mean?" _

"_Nothing, honey." Shirley tried to gloss it over._

"_Mommy, what did she mean?" Tracy said again._

"_Well, she thinks that Keith is a bad influence." Shirley hoped she would let it go at that._

_No such luck. "Why?"_

"_Because she's worried that Keith will corrupt her older daughters." Shirley said vaguely._

"_Why?" Tracy asked. She could have asked what corrupt meant too. She had no idea what her mother had just said._

"_Because all mother's worry about their daughters. Why don't you and Natalie go outside and play?" Shirley tried to end the conversation one more time._

"_Because I'm hungry. Can't I have some breakfast?" Tracy asked surprised at her Mom's suggestion._

"_Oh, I'm sorry honey. I'm a little distracted." Shirley said as she herded the two small girls to the kitchen table. "Natalie would you like something to eat too?"_

"_Sure, Mrs. Kincaid. What're you having?" Natalie happily sat next to her friend and Tracy let the subject drop for now. _

_xoxo_

_Tracy and Natalie played outside for most of the morning. They came in just before lunch to wash up. As they walked down the upstairs hallway, they heard Laurie talking on the phone that she'd pulled into their bedroom. _

_Tracy motioned for Natalie to be quiet and they crept to the door and listened in._

"_Emily, have you seen Keith?" Laurie said to the person on the other end. There was silence from Laurie and then, "No, he left home last night."_

"_He and Reuben got into it pretty bad."_

"_Reuben backhanded him."_

"_Yeah, I thought Reuben was pretty lucky too. Keith has that switchblade that he's pretty good with. Reuben better watch it or he'll end up dead." Laurie said with some glee._

"_No, I realize that your parents would never let him sleep by you. I was just hoping maybe he'd contacted you. I need to talk to him."_

"_No, I'd rather not approach the other guys in the gang. Keith's warned me off of them."_

"_Call me if you hear from him, ok?"_

"_Remember, you'll have to make something up if Reuben answers." With that, Laurie hung up the phone. _

_Tracy and Natalie quickly snuck to the bathroom and closed the door._

"_That was my sister on the other end." Natalie said._

"_How do you know that?" Tracy asked._

"_Because, I saw her outside our house the other night kissing with Keith. I think they're dating." Natalie told her._

"_But they hardly know each other." Tracy reminded her._

"_Doesn't matter. I heard Terry telling Emily that she was going to tell Mom and Dad that she was dating someone that Mom and Dad wouldn't approve of. I thought Emily was going to blow up. She was threatening Terry to make sure she stayed quiet. Terry is such a blabber mouth. Then, like I told you, I saw her kissing someone in a leather jacket. When they finally stopped kissing long enough, I saw that it was Keith. Do you think we'll ever like boys enough to do what they were doing?" Natalie asked in her little girl curiosity._

"_My sister tells me that someday it'll happen. I'm not so sure though." Tracy agreed._

"_Well, I'm not sure I ever will. The kind of kissing Keith and Emily were doing looked pretty gross." Natalie giggled and Tracy quickly joined her._

_xoxo_

_Tracy and Natalie had snuck into the garage after lunch. Tracy had paused upon entering. Where were all their instruments? The only thing sitting in a corner was a drum set. It didn't have the Partridge Family skin on the bass drum, so she knew it wasn't Chris's set. Other than that, the garage was void of anything musical. The only thing of note where the instruments should have been, were some grease spots on the floor. There was a large tool box and other cardboard boxes strewn around the room in a haphazard manner. Were their instruments on the bus? Maybe they had a show coming up soon and they'd already packed the bus. Tracy silently hoped that was the case. But wait, she hadn't seen the bus in the driveway either. Was it at the garage for repairs? Thinking about it gave her a headache, so she let Natalie talk her into playing instead. _

_Currently, she and Natalie were hiding behind a bunch of boxes. They didn't want Danny and Chris to find them. They'd been mean earlier in the day, well at least Chris had been. Danny had been oddly silent and let Chris push him around. Tracy and Natalie had decided to avoid the boys at all costs. _

_They were quietly playing with Tracy's dolls when they heard the side garage door open. They thought it might be Danny or Chris, so they peeked from behind the boxes. They saw Keith snake his way through the door and then watch through a small crack before closing the door silently behind him. He finally turned from the door and started looking around for something. Tracy put her finger to her lips to make sure Natalie didn't say anything. Tracy wanted to know what Keith was looking for and she knew that if they made their presence known, he'd leave._

_Keith finally found what he was looking for. He pulled an old sleeping bag from behind a couple of boxes and pounded it, releasing a cloud of dust. Keith coughed lightly and waved his hand in front of his face. His face had a look of disgust, but he set the sleeping bag by the door and went back to look for something else._

_He had compiled a small stack of camping equipment when he froze. The side door had opened again, and he tensed until he realized it was just Laurie._

"_I thought I saw you come in here. I had to wait until Mom went to the store before I could come out here. What are you doing?" Laurie asked._

"_I'm taking the camping equipment." Keith told her and continued his search._

"_Oh, man, I forgot about all this stuff." Laurie said as she peeked through his pile. "This stuff hasn't been used since you and dad used to go camping when you were little." _

"_Yeah, I know. That's why no one will miss it." Keith said and came out of the box he'd almost disappeared into holding an old lantern._

"_I suppose not. So, I guess, that means you're sleeping outside." Laurie watched Keith walk toward her with his latest find._

"_Yep." Keith agreed and turned away to keep looking for more stuff._

"_Keith, take me with you." Laurie tried again. "I don't want to be here. Not without you here too."_

"_No way." Keith said again._

"_Reuben and I had a fight this morning." Laurie hoped that would grab his attention._

"_What about?" Keith barely looked up from his search._

"_You. What'd you think?" Laurie admitted._

_Keith just grunted a laugh in her direction._

"_I want to go with you." Laurie repeated._

"_Enough!" Keith finally looked directly at her. "There is no way you're coming with me."_

"_Why not?" Laurie needed an explanation._

"_Because of the gang I ride with." Keith explained._

"_What about them?" Laurie asked. "If they're good enough for you, they're good enough for me, right?"_

"_Laurie, you don't understand." Keith sighed._

"_Then make me understand." Laurie walked over to him. "If you don't, I'll run away from home myself."_

"_Dammit Laurie! Just stay here. You're much better off here." Keith turned away from her in frustration._

"_No." Laurie put her hand on his arm. "I'm not better off here."_

"_Yes, you are." Keith turned suddenly to her and grabbed her shoulders. "You don't understand what they'd do to you."_

"_Do to me?" Laurie said in confusion._

"_Laurie, remember a few months ago when I came home all beat up. You helped me doctor all my cuts and bruises and helped me hide them with make-up so Mom wouldn't find out." Keith waited for Laurie to nod. "Well, those injuries were caused by my initiation into the gang. They took turns beating me up. I was allowed to fight back, but they started with the biggest, toughest guy and went down from there. By the end, I was so tired I couldn't put up much of a fight. That's why I was so bad."_

"_I remember." Laurie said quietly._

"_The only reason we were successful in hiding it is that they tried staying away from the face. They do this all the time and know that if they beat up a new member to not make it obvious or the cops will come sniffing around." Keith told her._

"_But, they don't beat up girls, do they?" Laurie knew Keith would never have anything to do with people who mistreated women._

"_No they don't. What they do to the girls is even worse." Keith told her sadly._

"_Keith, why did you get involved with a group that mistreats women?" Laurie was shocked by his admission._

"_I didn't know what they did before I got in. Now I can't get out." Keith admitted._

"_What do they do?" Laurie couldn't stop herself from asking._

"_They make 'em sleep with all the members." Keith spoke barely above a whisper; ashamed at his part in the whole thing._

"_You've been a part of that?" Laurie's shock was complete when he just barely nodded without looking at her. "How could you?"_

"_It's not like I wanted to. I just couldn't not do it. They'd kill me." Keith could not bring himself to look at his sister._

"_Why do you stay?" Laurie needed to know._

"_Because I have no choice. I either disappear or I stay in. The only other option is death and I've decided I'm too young for that." Keith tried joking._

"_Oh, Keith what're you gonna do?" Laurie wanted to cry but refused to let the tears fall._

"_I'm gonna get enough money together and I'm gonna go away. Far away. Maybe Europe or Australia. Out of the reach of Goose and his buddies." Keith told her his deepest secret._

"_Will you take me with you then?" Laurie's tears were shining in her eyes._

"_Sure. It'll be a while though. It takes a lot of money to disappear." Keith reminded her._

"_I'll wait. Where's your bike?" Laurie bent over to pick up some of Keith's camping equipment._

"_Around the corner, why?" Keith asked._

"_I'll help you carry some of this." Laurie walked out of the garage beside her brother._

_Tracy watched them go and looked at Natalie who was sitting there with her mouth hanging open. Tracy too was shocked. What she'd learned about this person who was masquerading as her brother was a whole lot different than the Keith she remembered._

_Tracy was starting to question whether the here and now was reality and her memories were flawed or if she was still dreaming. She prayed fervently that this was all a dream. She wanted her old family back. _


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tracy had been moved to a room and the family could visit her all at the same time. She still hadn't moved. She was pale and tiny in the bed with tubes and wires crisscrossing all around her. Everyone who spoke, spoke in whispers.

Shirley hadn't left her side since she'd been in the room. Keith and Laurie had gone down to the cafeteria to eat and had brought back a sandwich for her which, for now, remained untouched.

Reuben had taken Danny and Chris to the hotel an hour ago. Chris was too young to visit and Shirley thought it best if both of her youngest sons were away from the hospital for a while. Laurie had refused to leave so Reuben had offered to take them instead.

Keith and Laurie had finally guilted their mother into at least trying to eat part of the sandwich. She'd just opened the lid of the container when Tracy's head started to move slightly on the pillow. She moaned softly and then quieted.

Shirley dropped the container on the floor when she moved to be near her daughter in case she woke up. No one noticed the sandwich as it splattered on the floor. Their whole focus was on the bed.

Shirley grabbed her little hand and begged her to wake up. "Come on honey, open your eyes. I know you can do it. Mommy wants to see those beautiful eyes. Please honey, wake up for Mommy."

"Come on Trace. You can do it." Laurie added her own encouragement.

Tracy began to move restlessly and began to murmur something. It was too quiet to make out at first, but she kept repeating it. After a few minutes it finally became clear.

"Catch me Keith." She repeated over and over again.

"I'm here, Tracy. I've got you." Keith said and went to sit down next to her on the bed.

As soon as he talked to her and told her he had her, Tracy quieted. It was as if his reassurance appeased her.

"Laurie, go get the nurse. Keith, keep talking to her." Shirley instructed her two children. Maybe she was waking up, but either way, Keith's presence seemed to settle her.

The doctor came in a short time later and examined the tiny girl in the bed. He turned to the worried family and told them, "She's still in a coma but it doesn't appear to be as deep now. I think that she's fighting very hard to come back to you, but isn't quite ready yet. The swelling is likely going down and the pressure on the brain is likely lessening. We'll take her in for a Cat scan in the morning to check her status. You can stay with her if you like and talk to her too. It should help her to wake up faster. All the signs are very promising."

Shirley could only smile her watery thanks and the doctor soon departed to visit his other patients.

"See Mom. She's going to be fine." Laurie put her arm around her mother and gave her a squeeze.

"I think you may just be right." Shirley agreed. "If you want, the two of you can head back to the hotel and get some sleep. I'll stay here with her tonight."

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to stay." Keith said and then shared a telling look with Laurie. "We'd like to stay."

"I'm alright with that." Shirley smiled at her two oldest.

xoxo

_Emily came to pick up Natalie just after dinner. She asked Laurie to come and talk with her outside and led Natalie to the car buckling her into the front seat. Tracy followed unnoticed behind to say good-bye to her friend. Though they couldn't see her from the other side of the car, Tracy couldn't help but overhear Emily and Laurie's conversation._

"_Has he called you yet?" Emily was very worried._

"_No, but he was here earlier today picking up camping equipment." Laurie told her. "So far, he's just fine."_

"_Oh, good." Emily gnawed at her bottom lip in worry._

"_Emily, what aren't you telling me?" Laurie asked._

"_Well, I heard some of the guys talking about Keith." Emily admitted._

"_What guys?" Laurie leaned against the car next to Emily._

"_The guys in the gang." Emily said quietly._

"_Emily what are you doing talking to guys in the gang. Don't you have to be a member?" A look of dawning finally came over Laurie's face when she realized Emily couldn't look her in the eyes. "Oh my god, you are a member, aren't you?"_

_Emily nodded her head guiltily. "Just the other night."_

"_Emily, Keith told me what they make you do for initiation. Are you ok?" Laurie asked._

_Emily threw her head back and brought her eyes to Laurie's. "I'm fine. Thanks to Keith."_

"_What do you mean?" Laurie frowned._

"_Well, he challenged Goose to a contest. Whichever one won got me as their prize." Emily admitted._

"_So, you didn't have to…..sleep with all of them?" Laurie whispered in surprise._

"_No, just one, thanks to Keith." Emily told her. "He won and then we had to go into this room and well, you know. It was my first time. He wanted to fake the whole thing, but I was so scared I begged him to just do it. Keith was really cool about it. He was so gentle and caring. It wasn't so bad even knowing that everyone was on the other side of the door listening." _

"_What happened? What was the contest?" Laurie asked._

"_Keith said he could put a motorcycle engine together faster than Goose could. Goose has always bragged about his mechanical abilities. Keith kicked his ass and I was his." Emily stated in a matter of fact manner._

"_So, you're ok with all of this?" Laurie put her hand on Emily's arm in support._

"_Not really, but we're new in town. I got mixed up with the wrong crowd. I didn't know how to get out. It all happened so fast. One minute I thought I was on a date with a nice guy I'd met at the taco stand and the next thing I know, I'm the prize in a contest." Emily admitted._

"_Who was the guy?" Laurie needed to know._

"_They have one member who doesn't dress like the rest of 'em. They send him out to pick up nice girls. He's good looking and clean cut. Once he gets a date with a girl, he brings them to the gang hang-out and that's how I got there." Emily's laugh turned into a sob. She slapped her hand over her mouth to make sure no more came out._

_Laurie watched her fight for control and watched her win. She smiled at her encouragingly. "Well, you lucked out in having my brother take a shine to you. He's the best."_

"_Yeah, I think so too." Emily agreed. "But, Keith has bigger problems."_

"_How so?" Just when Laurie thought things couldn't get worse._

"_Goose is really ticked at him. He's out for Keith's blood and I can't find him to tell him. My mom and dad are forcing me to go visit my grandma for a week before school starts. I think they suspect I may be having problems, but have no idea what they are. I'm sure not going to tell them." Emily couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "Oh, Laurie, I have to find Keith to tell him." _

"_I'll find him. Don't you worry. He's my brother. We're always there for each other." Laurie assured her. _

_Emily reluctantly got in the car and waved to Laurie as she drove away. She prayed Laurie was successful or Keith was in a whole lot of trouble._

"_Hey, Tracy, what are you doing out here? I didn't know you were around." Laurie said when she turned to find Tracy right behind her._

"_I just came out to wave good-bye to Natalie." Tracy fibbed._

"_Oh, well let's go back inside." Laurie grabbed her hand and headed in; her mind already racing ahead to how she could find Keith._

_xoxo_

_Tracy woke up when she heard a crashing sound. She sat up in bed and found Laurie picking up the items that she'd knocked off the dresser in her haste to leave the room. _

"_Laurie? What're you doin'?" Tracy asked sleepily._

"_Nothing. Go back to sleep." Laurie's head shot up guiltily._

"_I can't. Something scared me." Tracy told her innocently._

"_That was just me being a klutz. There's nothing scary here." Laurie continued to pick up the things she'd knocked over._

"_You're dressed. Where are you going?" Tracy finally got a good look at Laurie as she walked past the brighter glow cast by the window._

"_I'm not going anywhere. Just go to sleep." Laurie tried again._

"_No, you were in bed before. I saw you. You're going somewhere." Tracy finally realized her sister wouldn't tell her anything unless she forced the issue. Watching Chris these last couple of days, she tried something knew – bribery. "If you don't tell me, I'll wait until you leave and then go and tell Mommy."_

"_You wouldn't." Laurie looked sharply at her little innocent sister who wasn't quite as innocent as she'd previously thought._

"_Oh yes, I would. I've been taking lessons from Chris." She added the last because she knew that Laurie would believe her if she told her that._

"_If I tell you, you promise not to tell? Cross your heart?" Laurie bargained. When Tracy nodded eagerly and used her right hand to cross her heart, Laurie continued. "I'm going to look for Keith. I have to tell him something very important. Now, just go to sleep."_

"_I can't. I need a drink of water." Tracy informed her._

"_Not tonight, sweetie." Laurie walked over to her and sat on the side of the bed. "Just lie back down. I'll sing you back to sleep, how does that sound?"_

"_I'd like that." Tracy smiled sleepily. Her sister was going to sing. It was another reminder of what she remembered her life to be like. She became more awake in anticipation._

"_Lullaby and goodnight…." Laurie sang the age old lullaby in a soft alto that Tracy remembered harmonizing with her brother's tenor and her mother's soprano so beautifully. Laurie finished the song and frowned at her grinning sister._

"_You have a beautiful voice." Tracy told her._

"_No, I don't. It's just a normal voice and I'm usually out of key." Laurie didn't take compliments very well._

"_No, you're not. You and Keith sing so well together. Well, you two and mommy too." Tracy reminded her._

"_Trace, what are you talking about?" Laurie's frown deepened._

"_The band." Tracy sat back up hopeful that this conversation would bring some sanity back to her world._

"_What band?" Laurie glanced at the door hoping no one would overhear this strange conversation._

"_Our band. The one where Keith writes all our songs and sings lead. The one where you play piano and sing harmony. Danny plays bass and Chris the drums. I play the tambourine and Mommy has the most beautiful voice ever." Tracy babbled on happily._

"_Tracy, I think your bump on the head is affecting your memory. I don't play piano and as far as I know, none of us are musically inclined at all. Although I do agree that Mom has a beautiful voice, but the only place I've heard her sing is in church or maybe in the kitchen." Laurie suddenly realized that she hadn't heard her mother sing in quite some time. In fact, if she were honest, it started right around the time Keith joined the gang and Laurie decided to side with her brother in all things. Which also just so happened to coincide with her marriage to one, Reuben Kincaid. _

"_But Laurie, I'm not 'membering wrong. I 'member just fine. We play in front of whole lots of people. They love us, well, they mostly love Keith. But we travel to shows on the weekends and most of the summer when we're not in school. We record in big studios with a guy called a 'gineer – or something like that. Anyway, I don't pay much attention to that part. Keith worries about that stuff." Tracy tried jogging her sister's memory. It was Laurie's memory that was faulty not hers, right?_

"_I have no idea what you're talking about. Keith is not loved by crowds of people. In fact, since he's joined that darn gang, he's feared by crowds of people." Laurie muttered the last sentence under her breath, but Tracy still heard her._

"_No, Laurie, you're wrong. Keith is a teen idol, that's what Danny said it's called." Tracy tried again._

"_Hardly! Tracy, Keith likes girls alright and he's even pretty popular with some of them, but he's definitely not a teen idol." Laurie scoffed. "Are you running a fever?"_

_Tracy pushed Laurie's hand away from her forehead. "No, I'm not sick. Why don't you 'member?"_

"_Remember what?" Laurie was still confused. "Are you talking in your sleep? I know what this is; it's a dream."_

"_No, it's not a dream. It's real. We're the Partridge Family. We sing for a living. Mr. Kincaid is our manager, not our new daddy." Tracy's voice rose in her desire to have Laurie remember their real life._

"_Shhh….Sorry, Trace, we used to be the Partridge Family, now we're more like the Kincaid Kin." Laurie joked._

"_I hate having Mr. Kincaid as my daddy." Tracy said vehemently._

"_I'm in total agreement with you on that one." Laurie avowed._

"_Laurie, make it all better. Please?" Tracy begged._

"_How's another lullaby sound?" Laurie needed to leave and leave soon. The longer Tracy stayed awake, the less time Laurie had to look for Keith._

_At Tracy's nod, Laurie settled her back under the covers and started singing. "Hush little baby, don't say a word….."_

_Within a few minutes, Tracy was fast asleep._

xoxo

"_Tracy, honey, wake up. It's mommy. Come on, open your eyes." Shirley shook her youngest's shoulder gently._

_Tracy rubbed her eyes and looked up at her Mommy's smiling face. "Morning, Mommy."_

"_Morning, sweetie. Do you know where your sister is?" Shirley shot a worried glance at the messy bed next to Tracy's._

"_She's right….." Tracy's voice trailed off as she looked at the empty bed. Had she been dreaming? Laurie had told her she was going to look for Keith, but had that been a dream or reality. Tracy couldn't separate the two anymore._

"_No, she's not here. She's not anywhere in the house. I've looked, so has your daddy." Shirley said._

_The mention of Mr. Kincaid as daddy, made Tracy realize that she was still in this new mad world. She also realized that her conversation with Laurie hadn't been a dream. She'd left in the middle of the night to look for Keith._

"_She's out looking for Keith." Tracy told her mom and then yawned widely._

"_What? Oh no!" Shirley hopped up from the side of the bed and then stood there uncertainly. "Reuben!"_

_The bedroom door opened more widely when Reuben rushed through the door hearing the urgency in his wife's voice. "What is it?"_

"_Tracy just told me that Laurie left to look for Keith. Oh, Reuben, she's not safe. I just know it." Shirley put her hand to her mouth._

_Reuben came further into the room and put his arms around his wife. "It's alright, honey. I'll go out and look for both of them. I'll bring both of them home to you. Even if I have to apologize to the young hellion. I'll bring 'em home."_

"_Reuben, watch your language around Tracy." Shirley gently scolded him._

"_Sorry. I'll bring them home even if I have to apologize to the young man. Is that better?" Reuben teased._

"_Much." Shirley smiled back. He really was a good man even if her children had yet to accept him. They'd needed a strong male presence in their lives even if they didn't want to admit it. It wasn't Reuben's fault that Keith had rebelled the strongest of all of them._

_Actually, it hadn't surprised her that he'd rebelled at all. He'd been of an age where he believed he was beyond needing a father. However, his decisions since she'd told them that she was getting married had proven just how wrong he was. He needed Reuben's guidance as much, if not more, than the rest of her children. _

_She also hoped that Reuben's guidance would bring Danny out of his shell and would stop Chris from being such a bully. Laurie needed to stop looking to her older brother for her cues on growing up. She needed to straighten up just as much as Keith needed to. They were both headed down an extremely destructive path. _

_Shirley's thoughts brought her back to the present and her two missing kids. Where could they be?_

"_Where will you start looking?" Shirley asked hopefully._

"_I'll start asking around at all the normal teen hang-outs. Someone has to know where they are, right?" Reuben suggested._

"_Why don't you ask Emily?" Tracy suggested from her perch on her bed._

"_Emily? Emily who?" Shirley asked confused._

"_Emily Foster. Natalie's sister. She's dating Keith." Tracy informed them._

"_She's what?" Shirley asked in surprise._

"_She's dating Keith. Natalie told me yesterday and I heard her and Laurie talking about it yesterday. Keith saved her from somethin' real bad that I didn't understand and now they're kissin' and stuff." Tracy smiled happily._

"_Well, won't Mrs. Foster just choke on her tea when she hears that one?" Reuben couldn't hide his smile. Shirley had shared with Reuben, Mrs. Foster's uppity opinion of Keith corrupting her daughters._

"_Oh, Reuben." Shirley slapped his arm. "But, you are right. I'd almost love to see her face when she finds out."_

_xoxo_

_Reuben came back just before dinner - by himself. _

"_Reuben, you didn't find them?" Shirley asked when he came in through the door._

_Tracy was sitting at the table coloring in her favorite coloring book and looked up to see a rumpled looking Mr. Kincaid come through the back door._

"_Not a sign. I looked everywhere I could think of. I asked every teenager I found." Reuben told her._

"_What about Emily?" Shirley asked._

"_She wasn't home when I stopped at the Fosters. They told me that she had gone for a week long visit to her grandmother's house in Lake Tahoe." Reuben's lips tilted up as he added. "You should have seen her face when I told her I was looking for Emily because I needed to find Keith and Laurie. When she asked how Emily would know, I told her that I'd been told they were dating. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed telling her that. In fact, I'm a little ashamed for taking so much enjoyment from it."_

"_Well, what was her reaction?" Shirley couldn't stop herself from asking._

"_It really was quite funny. First her mouth fell open and then she got this sour look on her face like she'd swallowed a fly or something." Reuben gleefully reported._

_Tracy giggled at Mr. Kincaid's description of Mrs. Foster._

"_Reuben!" Shirley tried chastising him, but a smile eventually won over. "Serves her right for thinking so badly of my son."_

"_That's what I thought." Reuben agreed whole-heartedly. Though he hated the way Keith had begun to treat his mother, he knew deep down the kid was a good kid. After all, Shirley had raised him right. He was just a little mixed-up right now and had gotten in with the wrong crowd. Reuben hoped to fix all that was wrong with this family before too long._

"_So, what do we do next?" Shirley asked._

"_I'm not sure yet. I was considering going to the police. After all, they are both minors." Reuben frowned._

"_Oh, Reuben, I'm not sure we should do that." Shirley knew that Keith was running with the wrong crowd and didn't want to get him caught with something that would land him in jail. She'd do anything to protect her children._

"_I know. That's why I haven't gone yet." Reuben sat down in a chair at the table and Shirley set a cup of coffee in front of him. "Any ideas?"_

_Shirley pulled out a chair and joined him at the table. "Not really. You're sure you looked everywhere?"_

"_Well, I am only one person, but I did check all of the places I could think of." Reuben gratefully began to sip his coffee._

"_Did you check the campgrounds?" Tracy asked._

"_Campgrounds? No, why?" Reuben asked._

"_Cause Keith was here yesterday picking up his camping equipment in the garage." Tracy informed them._

"_Oh, Tracy, why didn't you tell us sooner?" Shirley answered._

_Before Tracy could answer, the back door flew open and a frantic looking Laurie stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the three sets of eyes turn in her direction._

"_Laurie! Oh thank god, you're home." Shirley began to move toward her daughter when she noticed something dangling from her hand. It was a gun. "Is that a gun?"_

"_Oh, Mom! Help me! Please!" Laurie wailed._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Tracy began to toss wildly on the hospital bed. Shirley, woken from her light doze in the chair next to the bed, quickly got up and tried to quiet her. Most of the tubes and wires had been removed once they'd brought her back from her Cat scan. She'd been pronounced to be recovering nicely and they were hopeful that she would wake up soon.

As far as they could see, there was no physical reason she couldn't wake up. The swelling in her brain had gone down and she shouldn't experience any lasting effects from her recent fall.

Shirley, Keith and Laurie had been ecstatic at the news.

Shirley had once again sent the kids down to the cafeteria to eat and bring her something back. They were currently gone from the room.

Tracy continued to thrash around and began to mumble unintelligibly once again. As time went by, Shirley was able to decipher her words. She was calling for Keith to catch her.

Shirley talked to Tracy in hopes of quieting her, but nothing seemed to work.

Shirley was close to the end of her rope when the door opened and Keith and Laurie walked in. They'd been smiling about their conversation when they walked in, but the smiles fell quickly from their faces when they noticed Shirley's harassed look and Tracy's words that were quickly becoming louder as time went by.

"Keith, quick, talk to her. It worked last time." Shirley instructed while making sure that Tracy didn't hurt herself while thrashing about.

"Hey, Munchkin, I'm here. I've got you." Keith said.

Tracy's thrashing slowed, but it didn't stop completely. She plaintively whined, "Keith, catch me. Please"

"I've got you." Keith said and crawled up onto the bed to draw her close to his side.

Now that she was tucked under her brother's protective arm, Tracy calmed and became quiet once again.

"That is so strange." Laurie said while exchanging glances with her mother.

"It is. It's like she's dreaming of something that only Keith can help her with." Shirley frowned. It hurt that she wasn't the one who could comfort her daughter, but so long as Keith was able to accomplish that outcome Shirley was happy.

"How long should I stay here?" Keith asked.

"I'm not sure. Why don't you try moving away? If she reacts, you're stuck there." Shirley smiled at him.

As soon as he tried shifting away, Tracy began to mumble again.

"Guess you're stuck there, brother dear." Laurie smirked at him. "Comfortable?"

"Hardly." Keith said as he struggled to keep himself from falling off the side of the bed. "Wanna help me slide her over? If I'm stuck here for a while, I need more room."

"No way. Watching you struggle to stay on the bed is way too much fun." Laurie joked.

"Laurie!" Shirley scolded her daughter with a smile. "Here, let me help. Just be gentle, ok?"

"There that's much better." Keith said as he settled on the bed more fully. "Now, if you two don't mind, I think I'll take a nap."

"No fair!" Laurie complained. They'd all sat around all night in hard hospital chairs getting little sleep.

"Hey, I'm just doing my part to bring our little sister some comfort. It's not my fault she doesn't call for you." Keith teased and promptly closed his eyes but not before catching Laurie sticking her tongue out at him.

"Here Mom, I brought you lunch." Laurie said as she handed her the container she'd been carrying.

"What's this 'I' stuff? We brought her lunch." Keith said without opening his eyes.

"I did all the hard work carrying it." Laurie reminded him.

Shirley just rolled her eyes at her playful kids and sat down to eat. She really was quite hungry now that she knew Tracy was well on the road to recovery.

xoxo

"_Laurie! Don't move!" Reuben instructed as he slowly approached the panicked young woman. _

"_Stay away from me. This is all your fault you know." Laurie said irrationally. She wasn't pointing the gun at anyone, it just hung limply from her hand as if she'd totally forgotten she even had it – which wasn't far from the truth. _

"_My fault? How so?" Reuben asked but continued to advance slowly, intending to wrest the gun from her hand as quickly as possible._

"_If you hadn't forced your way into our family, Keith would never have joined that stupid gang." Laurie absently pointed out. It was obvious she was in shock and not completely aware of what was happening._

_Reuben had finally made it close enough to grab the gun from her nerveless fingers. He quickly and expertly emptied the chamber of bullets and then walked to the tallest cabinet in the house and pushed the gun to the back. He didn't want any of the kids stumbling upon the weapon. _

"_No! We might need that." Laurie's cry of denial was delayed. It took her much longer than normal to react to anything that was happening around her. _

_Shirley, who'd placed herself between Laurie and Tracy while she held the gun, now quickly advanced on her daughter. She'd been focused on her daughter's shocked eyes up until now. Once she took a look at her daughter as a whole, she noticed that her clothes were torn and stained. "What is that all over you?"_

"_Blood." Laurie said with little emotion._

"_Blood! Where are you hurt?" Shirley asked as she began to feverishly run her eyes over her daughter._

"_It's not mine. It's Keith's." Laurie told them coldly._

"_Keith's blood? My god, there's so much!" Shirley cried. "Where is he?"_

_As if the question freed her from her stupor, Laurie's brain finally kicked back into gear. "He's in the garage. Oh, hurry, please! He's hurt real bad."_

_Laurie no longer waited to see their response. She turned to the door and had disappeared outside before anyone else could move._

"_Where are you going?" Shirley asked as she began to follow her daughter when she noticed Reuben head away from the door._

"_I'm grabbing some towels." Reuben said while he opened a drawer and then followed close behind them._

_Tracy followed right after them without notice._

"_Oh, dear lord, Reuben. He's bleeding to death!" Shirley could only manage a whisper after getting her first glimpse of the battered body lying on a bunch of old blankets on the garage floor._

"_Hurry! Help him." Laurie urged already on her knees beside him._

"_Shirley, go back in the house and call an ambulance. Then come back here and help me with him." Reuben instructed. Turning back to Laurie he asked, "What's wrong with him? Where is all the blood coming from?"_

"_He was in a knife fight." Laurie sobbed._

"_Where are the worst injuries?" Reuben asked as he began to run his eyes over Keith's body. It was hard to tell. His clothes were soaked in blood and the source wasn't clear._

"_He has a deep wound right here." Laurie put her hand on the left side of Keith's rib cage. _

_When Reuben stepped closer and knelt down on Keith's other side, he could hear Keith's wheezing breathes and realized the knife wound must have punctured the lung. He quickly put a towel over the wound and pressed hard. Keith groaned in response at the pain._

"_Hang in there kid. We're getting you help." Reuben addressed Keith who appeared to be swimming somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. "Where else?"_

"_His thigh has a deep cut." Laurie said._

"_Here, take this towel and put it over the wound. Press down hard on it. It might hurt him a little, but we need to slow the bleeding." Reuben saw Laurie pause and yelled. "Do it!"_

_Laurie jumped but did as he instructed. "Now what?"_

"_Are there any other serious wounds?" Reuben asked._

"_Serious?" At Reuben's nod she continued, "No, I think those are the worst. But, oh god Reuben, they beat him up so bad. It's all my fault."_

"_Now isn't the time, Laurie. We'll talk about this later. What other kinds of injuries might he have?" Reuben continued._

"_I think they broke his wrist to get his knife away from him. He probably has broken ribs and internal injuries. They just kept hitting him and kicking him." Laurie finally broke down in another sob._

"_Laurie, I need you to hold yourself together. Keep pressure on that leg wound. Can you do that for me?" Reuben shouted at her to make sure he got through._

_Laurie nodded and quieted her sobs, though the tears continued to flow._

"_Did they hurt you?" Reuben had to know._

_Laurie shook her head, but continued to cry._

"_Are you sure?" Reuben began to yell once again just to get her attention. She was in obvious shock._

"_Not like this." Laurie told him._

_Reuben let that one go for now. If she wasn't bleeding from a gaping wound, Keith held precedence over any injuries she might have._

_Shirley had walked in on the last comment and reported. "The ambulance is on its way. They should be here in a couple of minutes."_

"_Come here and talk to him. We need to find out if he has any other injuries." Reuben instructed. Keith had been groaning and mumbling ever since they'd come into the garage. Maybe his mother's voice would bring him out of his stupor enough to make sure there were no other major injuries they needed to treat._

"_Honey, it's Mom. Can you hear me?" Shirley knelt down by her son's head and then paused. She wanted so badly to touch him, but at first glance couldn't find a spot on him that didn't have some type of bruise, abrasion or dried blood. In fact, she wasn't even totally certain this wounded animal lying on her garage floor was even her son. If she hadn't recognized his leather jacket and Laurie hadn't insisted it was Keith, she'd have questioned his identity._

_Shirley finally decided that her touch would bring more comfort than pain and put her hand on his cheek. "Please honey; open your eyes for me."_

"_Mom?" The word was weak but clear._

"_Yes, honey, it's Mom. I'm here. Can you open your eyes for me?" Shirley begged and leaned closer so that if he managed to open his eyes, he'd see her immediately. She was soon rewarded by the lifting of his quickly swelling eyelids. _

_She looked deeply into her son's hazel gaze and smiled gently. "That's it. Stay with me."_

"_Oh, god, mom. It hurts." Keith moaned and then began to cough. Though the cough wasn't strong because he was having trouble drawing breath, blood began to trickle from the side of his mouth._

"_I know, baby. We're here. We're going to get you help. You hang on. Alright?" Shirley begged._

_Keith nodded weakly, closed his eyes and coughed again, groaning. Then, as if he suddenly remembered something very important, Keith struggled to push the hands away from him. "Where's Laurie?"_

"_She's right here. She's alright." Shirley tried to reassure him._

"_They're hurting her. I have to help her." Keith continued as if Shirley hadn't spoken._

"_Keith, I'm right here. I'm ok. Thanks to you." Laurie reached up to touch his cheek but kept one hand on his leg wound. _

"_You're alright?" Keith's eyes turned to hers. "You're really alright?"_

"_I'm really alright." Laurie gave him a watery smile. "You came in time."_

"_I did? Really? You promise me?" Keith said weakly._

"_I promise. You came in time." Laurie told him again. _

_Reuben and Shirley exchanged a glance that questioned what would have happened if Keith hadn't gotten there in time. They also wondered if Laurie might be lying to protect her brother. _

_Laurie's reassurance seemed to free Keith from his ability to remain conscious. As his eyes drifted closed, they all began to hear the distant wail of a siren._

"_Shirley, go flag down the ambulance and tell them to hurry." Reuben sent an urgent message with his eyes. He didn't like the fact that Keith had lost consciousness. His fears transferred to Shirley and she quickly jumped up to do his bidding._

_xoxo_

_Keith had been taken away by the ambulance and Shirley had been allowed to ride with him to the hospital. Reuben had followed with the car. He had brought Tracy along only because he had no idea what to do with her. Chris and Danny were at a birthday party for one of their school friends. He reminded himself to call the birthday boy's parents and ask if they could stay until they could come and pick them up. _

_Reuben had stayed close to the ambulance even though they'd broken all the posted speed limits. He had no desire to leave Shirley alone with her fears. He knew that once they reached the hospital, she wouldn't be allowed to accompany Keith and she'd be alone in the waiting room. That he couldn't bear._

_Laurie sat quietly beside him in the front seat and held her little sister close. Her tears still falling; she was once again in a state of shock. He reminded himself to make sure she was checked over by a doctor too._

_They screeched to a halt near the emergency room doors and watched the gurney carrying Keith be rushed through the doors. Laurie was out of the car a mere second after it came to a screeching halt. Tracy, though her legs were much shorter, was close behind her sister. Reuben rushed to catch up to them._

_They all rushed up to a worried Shirley who was standing just outside the doors she'd been told she couldn't pass. Her tear filled eyes turned toward them as soon as they yelled, 'Mom'._

_She caught her eldest daughter in her arms and felt her youngest wrap her arms around her right leg. _

"_Are you alright?" Shirley asked quietly into her daughter's ear while she tried to shush the mounting sobs._

_Laurie could only nod._

"_You know, he's going to be alright. He woke up for a short time again in the ambulance and as soon as I reassured him that you were right behind us, he seemed to relax." Shirley told her._

"_Oh, Mom, it's all my fault!" Laurie whispered as another sob shook her slight frame._

"_No, honey, it's not your fault. It's that damn gang." Shirley hugged her even more fiercely._

"_Shirl, I think we should have Laurie checked out by a doctor." Reuben said from directly behind Laurie. _

_When his wife's eyes met his, he gently brought his hand forward to brush her tears off her face. They communicated wordlessly and Shirley pushed her daughter slightly away from her. In all of the excitement of getting Keith to the hospital, Shirley hadn't noticed that Laurie had bruises on her own face._

"_Did they hurt you?" Shirley asked the same question Reuben had asked earlier._

"_Not like Keith." Laurie went for the indirect answer._

"_That's not what I asked you. Did they hurt you?" Shirley asked again while gently grabbing her daughter's face between her hands._

_Laurie's eyes began to overflow with tears and she could only nod._

"_Oh, baby, I'm sorry." Shirley said not quite knowing what her daughter's nod had meant. "Reuben, tell the nurse we need to see a doctor."_

_Reuben turned away from the once again embracing mother and daughter. _

"_Come on Trace, help me find the nurse, hmmm?" Reuben put his hand out to the bewildered little girl watching everything with fascination. She'd begun to see Reuben in a different light over the last hour or so and saw the kindness in his eyes. She let go of her mother's leg and ran toward him. Just before reaching him, she jumped up and he caught her in his arms holding her close. "Shhhh."_

_She took comfort in his quiet voice and the soft kisses that he placed gently on her hair._

_xoxo_

_Laurie was still in the exam room when her doctor came out to talk to them. _

"_Mrs. Partridge?" The doctor approached the worried blond mother who had a small girl tucked against her side._

"_It's Mrs. Kincaid. But, yes, I'm Laurie and Keith Partridge's mother." Shirley confirmed and then waited with baited breath to hear what was wrong with one of her children._

"_Oh, yes, I understand we have two of your children here tonight. I'm Dr. Watson, Laurie's physician only." The doctor was quick to point out that he had no news on her son._

"_How is she?" Shirley asked._

"_She's been through quite a bit. She tells me that she was attacked by a young group of men who attempted to sexually assault her." At Shirley's gasp of surprise, the doctor quickly continued. "They were unsuccessful in their attempt due to your son's arrival. However, she does have quite a bit of bruising on her arms and legs from being held down at one point. She also has some bruising to her head and face. Apparently one of the young men has a thing for hurting women."_

_The doctor frowned at the sad story he was required to relay but he needed to make the parents of the minor he'd treated aware of what they would be facing. "Some of her hair has been torn from her scalp leaving some painful lacerations. She'll also have some bruising on her face. She was apparently slapped several times. We found the bruising once we cleaned all of the dried blood from her skin."_

"_But, you said she wasn't….." Shirley couldn't make herself continue._

"_No. No, Mrs. Kincaid, it appears that your son showed up in time to stop any actual violation from taking place." The doctor confirmed quickly._

"_Can I see her?" Shirley asked._

"_Actually, she's just finishing cleaning up with the help of one of the nurses. Her clothes were covered in blood, so we've supplied her with some surgical scrubs until she can get home for a change of her own clothes. She was asking repeatedly about her brother and I'm sure she'll be coming back out here to await word with you." Dr. Watson reassured her._

"_Can you tell me anything about my son?" Shirley asked now that her worst fears about Laurie's health could be set aside._

"_His case is being handled by a set of surgeons." Dr. Watson was about to walk away with those as his parting words._

"_Oh, please Dr. Watson, could you check on his progress and let me know? Something. Anything." Shirley stood up and put her hand on the doctor's arm to waylay his departure._

"_It's not hospital procedure, Mrs. Kincaid. The attending physician needs to be the one to discuss the case with you." Dr. Watson was a stickler for protocol._

"_Please, Dr. Watson, I'm begging you for any information you can provide. Anything." Shirley tried again. "He was bleeding so badly…."_

_Dr. Watson had always been a sucker for a pretty face. And, married or not, the woman in front of him definitely had a beautiful face. He just couldn't turn her down._

"_I'll go and see what I can find out for you. Please, sit down and try to relax. I may be a while." Dr. Watson smiled gently. "Your daughter should be out soon."_

"_Thank you, Dr. Watson. Thank you very much." Shirley's smile was shaky but very genuine._

_As Dr. Watson disappeared once again behind the doors that boldly stated 'No Admittance Beyond This Point', Shirley sat back down and gathered Tracy to her side once again. She vaguely thought that she shouldn't allow Tracy to be present during the many adult conversations that had been taking place recently, but she had no alternative at this point. She could try calling one of her neighbors to see if they could come and get her, but she didn't want to leave the waiting area to make the call. _

_She could call her parents, but it would take them hours to get here. She also didn't want to worry them until she had some firm answers on how Keith was doing. _

_She glanced down to gauge Tracy's mental state. She was met by a smile from her youngest child. _

"_Are you alright, honey?" Shirley asked her._

"_I'm fine Mommy. When's Laurie coming back?" Tracy asked._

"_She should be here soon." Shirley leaned over and kissed her cheek._

"_She's really alright? Like the doctor said, right?" Tracy asked._

"_Yes, honey, she's going to be just fine." Shirley smiled sweetly at Tracy while she struggled with thoughts of the potential emotional fall-out from this nightmare that was still in full swing. Oh, if only she could wake up from this dream._

_xoxo_

_They waited twenty agonizing minutes for the doors to be pushed open again and were all smiles when Laurie came timidly through them._

"_Oh, Mom!" Laurie said as soon as she saw her mother. They met halfway and hugged tightly._

"_Are you really, truly, alright?" Shirley pulled back and framed her daughter's face between her hands looking deeply into her eyes._

"_I will be." Laurie whispered as tears began to form in her eyes. "I will be."_

"_Oh, thank God." Shirley pulled her in for another hug. "I don't know what I'd have done if they'd….."_

"_It's alright Mom. They didn't." Laurie assured her. "Because of Keith, they didn't get the chance."_

_The thought of what her brother had sacrificed for her caused Laurie to begin to sob softly into her mother's shoulder._

"_Oh, god, Mom. Keith has to be alright. He just has to be." Laurie whispered brokenly._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_Shortly after Laurie had cried herself out on her mother's shoulder, they all wandered back over to the chairs and took seats close to each other. They drew comfort from each other's presence. A few short minutes later, the emergency room doors opened once again and Dr. Watson came through them. They all jumped up and rushed forward._

"_Mrs. Kincaid, I've received permission from Keith's doctors to give you an update. They're taking him up to surgery right now. Please have a seat and I'll fill you in." Dr. Watson waved them all back to the seats they'd abandoned at his appearance. Once they were all settled, he continued. "It took them longer than anticipated to stabilize him."_

_Dr. Watson watched the man who he assumed was Mr. Kincaid put his arm around his wife, effectively sandwiching a small girl in between them. Laurie Partridge, his patient of earlier, was clasping her mother's hand while she sat on her other side._

"_What are the extent of his injuries?" Reuben asked when it appeared that the doctor wasn't intending on continuing._

"_He has several that are life threatening." At the family's drawn in gasp, he quickly continued. "He has a collapsed lung brought on by a penetrating knife wound between the second and third rib. He has a deep lacerating knife wound on his right thigh that just missed his femoral artery. He has internal bleeding from what we can only assume were violent and repeated blows to his torso. This also caused several ribs on the left side to be fractured. His right wrist is broken, his left cheek bone is cracked and his nose is broken."_

_Dr. Watson paused to take a breath. He was going through the list of injuries in his head to make sure he hadn't missed anything when Tracy asked. "Is my brother going to get better?"_

_The simple question uttered by the small child caused the doctor to blink. He'd been prepared for many questions from the adults, but not from the smallest one there. He looked directly into her eyes and tried to answer honestly yet hopefully. "We're going to do everything we can to make that happen."_

_The unspoken 'but' that followed that statement was understood by every adult seated in the waiting room._

_xoxo_

_After the doctor had gone down the list of Keith's injuries, the family sat stunned. They'd known it was bad, but to hear his injuries given to them like a grocery list had just brought the devastation of it home. _

"_Thank you, Dr. Watson. How long will he be in surgery?" Shirley asked quietly, fighting valiantly to remain calm. _

"_I suspect that it'll be a couple of hours. In fact, why don't we move you to a waiting room closer to the recovery room? Once he begins to come out of the anesthesia, you'll be able to visit him for a short time before they move him to a room." Dr. Watson had stood up to get the attention of one of the nurses. "Nurse Benson will take you up to the new waiting area. Dr. Hannigan, that's Keith's surgeon, will be able to find you there and give you an update right after the surgery is complete."_

"_Thank you. We appreciate the update." Reuben said as he stood up to shake the doctor's hand._

_xoxo_

_They had settled into the new waiting room and Tracy had laid her head on her mother's lap. Shirley, thinking that Tracy was asleep, decided it was time to get more of the story from Laurie. Tracy stayed still and listened while her mother ran her fingers soothingly through her strawberry blond locks._

"_Laurie, what happened?" Shirley asked quietly. When she noticed her daughter's hesitation, she added. "Please, I need to know."_

_Tracy peeked through her lashes to watch her sister. She watched her bite her lip in indecision and then straighten her shoulders in resolve._

"_It's not a pretty story. Are you sure?" Laurie spoke barely above a whisper._

"_Yes. I have to know." Shirley said firmly._

_Laurie stood up and then began to pace as she let her mind wander back to the night before when she'd left the house to go look for Keith. How could she have been so dumb? She took a deep breath, stopped near her mother and finally perched on the end of a chair facing her. As Tracy watched her through her lashes, Laurie blinked tears from her eyes and started talking._

"_I left in the middle of the night to look for Keith. I knew he'd taken the camping equipment from the garage, so I started looking at the local camp grounds. I wasn't getting anywhere, so I decided to move on to the next most likely place he would be. The gang hideout."_

_She looked down before continuing. "I snuck up as close as I could without being seen and just watched them for a while. I didn't see Keith, for which I was glad. Emily had told me that Goose was out to get him, so if he was there, I knew it wouldn't be good. I was just about to sneak away when one of the guys spotted me. I ran. As fast as I could. I ran for what seemed like forever." A sob broke from her lips before she pressed them together to hold the rest in. After a couple of minutes, she was able to continue._

"_They caught me just before I got to the highway. If I could have just made it a few more yards, I'd have been able to flag down a car. They'd never have grabbed me out in the open. As it was, I fought like crazy when the first guy grabbed a bunch of my hair. He pulled so hard, that it came out in his hand. The pain was awful. It stunned me and pulled me off balance for just a second, but that's all it took. The second guy was one me by that time. He put his hand over my mouth before I could scream and they dragged me back to the railroad yard. They sort of fixed up this old abandoned warehouse at the back of the yard. It's far away from everyone. That's why they like it."_

"_They held me between the two of them. They didn't have to keep their hand over my mouth any more. I could have screamed bloody murder and no one would have heard me." Laurie's breath hitched again, but she swallowed and continued._

"_They pulled me to stand in front of Goose. He's the ring leader. He just smiled at me like the cat that had swallowed the canary. I was his insurance to get Keith. He knew it and I knew it. I just wanted to die. I knew I'd given him the only ammunition he would need to get Keith to come to him."_

"_They tried to get me to tell them where Keith was hiding, but I couldn't tell them. I didn't know. At first they didn't believe me. They slapped me, oh, I don't know, maybe six times or so, trying to get me to talk. I laughed at him and yelled, 'why do you think I was watching you? I'm looking for Keith too'. That finally seemed to get him to realize that I didn't know where Keith was and I wouldn't be able to take them to him."_

"_So, Goose had me tied up and locked in a room. He must have sent a bunch of people out to look for him. I heard them talking that they had come across Reuben looking for Keith too. They were almost completely frustrated when Keith just walked in and said, 'I heard you were looking for me'. He just walked right in like he had no worries. I realized he must have heard that I was there and when he asked to see me, I knew for sure."_

"_He was still close to the door when they brought me out. I begged him to leave. He just threw me that cocky grin of his and walked closer to me. He stopped grinning when he noticed the bruises on my face. Oh, Mom, he looked so angry when he saw that. I knew right then and there that he wasn't going to let Goose and the rest of the guys get away with hurting me."_

"_The guys who had been holding me back, all of a sudden just let me go. I ran over to Keith and begged him again to run. He just looked at me and asked me if they'd touched me. I knew what he meant. He wasn't asking if they'd hit me. He knew they'd hit me. He was asking if they'd….." Laurie struggled but finally said it. "If they'd raped me."_

"_It's their initiation passage for all the female members. He'd warned me away from the gang numerous times by telling me that. I guess he wasn't sure if I'd believed him. But I had. Emily told me about her initiation. She'd been tricked into joining recently and Keith had saved her from the worst of it, but that's her story to tell. I told him that they hadn't raped me but he wouldn't leave."_

_It was getting easier to say the vile word. But, now her story got more difficult. She struggled to keep her voice even while she relayed the rest._

"_Keith reminded Goose of the gangs 'code'. It has something to do with respecting each of the members' families. Goose broke the rule by forcing me to stay and by slapping me around. Keith reminded everyone there that the fight that was about to take place was between him and Goose. I'm not sure if he really thought it would work or not, but for a while at least it did."_

"_The fight started with just Goose and Keith. It started out as a fist fight. Oh, god mom, Goose is so much bigger than Keith, but you should have seen him. He drew blood first, but that only enraged Goose. Goose started fighting dirty. He threw dirt at Keith to blind him and then landed a lucky punch that knocked Keith down. Before Keith could get back up, Goose had pulled a knife. I yelled, letting Keith know, but Keith couldn't get out of the way fast enough. Goose put the gash in his leg before Keith even realized the fight was now a knife fight."_

_Shirley had long stopped stroking Tracy's hair and every muscle in her body was taut. She bit her lip to stop herself from interrupting her daughter's recitation. But, oh god, it hurt to hear it._

"_Keith, even wounded like he was, didn't back down. He actually taunted Goose. And, for a while it worked. Goose was so mad; he was making foolish slashes at Keith that Keith danced away from. Keith was able to pull his own knife and start inflicting cuts all over Goose's arms and legs. None of them were as deep as Keith's, though. Keith was loosing blood fast and he knew it. So he kept taunting Goose and drawing him closer. He knew he had to end it quick."_

"_He got Goose to charge him and at the last second stepped out of the way and Goose went headlong into a bunch of old crates. He didn't get up right away. Keith had won." The ghost of a smile flitted across Laurie's face before another frown took its place. "Just when he had started to walk toward me, the rest of the guys, at least six of them all jumped him. They held him down and pounded his hand into the ground until I heard the bone break. After that, Keith was without a weapon. They started beating on him. They stood around him and kicked him over and over and over again."_

_Laurie began to cry silent tears. Her eyes had taken on a faraway look as she relived the scene in her mind's eye. She'd been so desperate._

"_The whole time, they ignored me. At first I was too shocked to do anything. But, now that they were all ganged up on Keith, it was like I wasn't there. I started looking around and spotted the gun Reuben took away from me when I got home. It was just lying there. Can you believe it? I had no idea how to use it, but I figured it was the only way I could protect Keith. I grabbed it and pointed it and pulled the trigger." A bark of forced laughter fell from her lips. "The sound and the jerk of the gun surprised me so much, I almost dropped it. Oh, god, I was sure I'd killed someone, but no one fell over. They just froze where they stood."_

"_I told them all to get away from Keith and they did what I told them to do. I was shaking so badly, I thought for sure they would notice and just come after me. But, they didn't. At first, Keith didn't move, but then he finally started to try and get up. Oh, god, he was in so much pain. He moved so slowly. I was praying so hard that he would hurry up. I knew they were all thinking about rushing me."_

"_Finally, after what seemed like hours but was only minutes, Keith was staggering toward me. His face was covered in blood and he was limping really badly. He was holding his wrist against his body, but he grinned at me. Oh, Mom, through it all, he grinned at me. It was crooked, but it gave me so much courage."_

"_I grinned back, and stopped shaking. He just knew what I needed. I thought we were home free."_

_Laurie looked down at her clasped hands trying to gather herself for the rest of her story. She knew this last part could cause her problems. She could even go to jail. But, share it she would. She would do anything to protect her brother and she knew that if she didn't tell it, they would blame him._

"_As Keith was struggling to walk toward me, Goose finally woke up. He saw Keith walking past him and he came at him with his knife. That's when Keith was stabbed in the side. Keith had no idea it was coming. Goose came up behind him. The look on his face was one of complete surprise that melted into a look of such pain. I saw red. As soon as Keith fell, I pulled the trigger again…..and again."_

"_He deserved to die!"_

_Shirley couldn't hold back the gasp that formed at her daughter's vehement words. She agreed with them, but to have her daughter in a situation where someone's death was paramount to her brother's survival was beyond reality. "Oh, Laurie."_

"_No, mom, just let me finish. I need to finish. For Keith. They'll blame him for Goose's murder if I don't tell you what really happened." Laurie struggled to keep in her sobs and when Reuben sat down next to her and put his arm around her, she fell gratefully into his strength. _

"_It's alright Laurie. It was self-defense. Pure and simple." Reuben murmured into the side of her head where he had rested his forehead. He was trying to give her as much moral and physical support as possible. _

"_I'm going to prison, aren't I?" Laurie sobbed. She'd been so strong up until now, but she could no longer hold back her fears. _

"_No, you aren't." Reuben told her firmly. He didn't know for sure if that was true, but he would do everything in his power to make sure that she didn't. She had only done what she'd been forced to do. "Your mother and I will make sure of that."_

"_Thank you. I needed to hear that. I wasn't sure." Laurie didn't finish the thought, but it was understood. She wasn't sure that she'd receive their support or if with all the changes to their family recently that they'd disown her and let her pay for what she'd done._

"_Well, you can be most sure." Reuben said firmly. _

_Shirley let Reuben address Laurie's fears. It was the first time that he and Laurie were communicating on a level that made her believe her decision to marry Reuben had been the right one. Reuben was acting like the father figure that her children needed. It was under extreme circumstances, but she could feel the love he had for her children. It brought her hope that if they survived this latest episode that they might one day become a real family. But all of that hinged on Keith's recovery. Oh, please God, let Keith recover!_

"_So, how did you get to the house?" Shirley still needed to hear the end of the story._

_Shirley smiled when Laurie grabbed Reuben's hand to give her strength to finish her story._

"_Well, once you've shot their leader, the pack tends to fall apart rather quickly. They all just stood there in shock. None of them even tried to come toward me or Keith. None of them even tried to go over to Goose to see how bad he was." Laurie smiled sadly in memory._

"_Are you sure this Goose person is dead?" Reuben asked softly and squeezed her hand more tightly._

"_No, I suppose not. I didn't check. I just helped Keith up. He was fading fast but he knew we had to get out of there or we were both dead. He put his left arm around my shoulders and we staggered out."_

"_We walked over to his bike and then both realized that he couldn't drive it. And, I had no idea how to operate it at all, so we started walking. It took us hours to get home. We had to keep stopping and hiding away from people. We were so afraid of being discovered by someone from the gang. We both figured that they wouldn't be acting like lost sheep forever and that soon they'd be out for revenge. And, we were right. We saw them cruising the neighborhoods around our house while we tried to get there. I have never been so scared in my life. I wasn't sure if Keith would make it or not. I wasn't sure if he'd stay conscious long enough to get home. Then, finally, there it was; the garage was right in front of us and I settled Keith there before going into the house to get you." Laurie sighed as she finished the story._

"_We'll need to talk to the police and soon, you know." Reuben told her. "In fact, it's likely that the hospital has already contacted the police about Keith's injuries. It's obvious that something outside of the law was going on."_

"_I was afraid of that." Laurie couldn't hide her fear._

"_Don't worry, honey. We'll be with you every step of the way." Shirley reassured her. She just hoped she wasn't spreading false hope. _

"_You know, Keith doesn't hate you." Laurie said to Reuben just to change the subject._

"_He could have fooled me." Reuben said in surprise._

"_He made a promise to dad before he died. He promised to take care of mom. When you came along, you took away his purpose and he felt like he was betraying the promise he'd made." Laurie smiled sadly at her mother._

"_I never knew that." Shirley said softly._

"_He never told anyone but me. He was so young when he and dad made the pact, but he took it so seriously. It was why he was pushing to quit school and get a job. But, you wouldn't let him." Laurie reminded her._

"_Well, seriously, Laurie. How would quitting school have helped him to get a good job?" Shirley had bigger plans for all of her children. It had included college and careers._

"_I'm not saying his thoughts were totally logical." Laurie agreed. "He just felt compelled to do it. And then you rejected everything he suggested. He felt helpless – worthless." Laurie told her._

"_And, then I come along to throw it all back in his face once again." Reuben said with dawning wonder._

"_You got it." Laurie agreed. "You take the job that dad had made him promise to do. It nearly tore him in two."_

"_And he rebelled by doing exactly what he knew would hurt us the most." Shirley finished the thought._

_Laurie nodded her agreement. _

"_That explains so much. Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Shirley asked._

"_Because he swore me to secrecy. And, because up until today, I wasn't sure that Reuben was the right person to be our step-father." Laurie wasn't pulling her punches._

"_But, you feel differently now?" Shirley asked._

"_He helped Keith and he's going to help me. I think he's one of the good guys." Laurie squeezed the hand she'd never let go of._

_Their bonding session was cut short by a man in surgical scrubs walking into the room._

"_Mrs. Partridge?" Dr. Hannigan asked._

"_It's Mrs. Kincaid." Laurie corrected him._

_Shirley threw her a look of appreciation for that show of acceptance. "Yes, I'm Keith's mother."_

"_I'm Dr. Hannigan. You're son has made it through surgery. It was touch and go a few times in there, but we're very hopeful at this point." Dr. Hannigan smiled encouragingly._

"_You didn't say he would make a full recovery. Will he?" Reuben asked._

"_There'll be a long road to recovery. Some physical therapy, but if he pulls through the next 24 hours, things will look a whole lot better." Dr. Hannigan told them. "He's still not awake but I'll have the nurse come and get you when you can go in and see him. Once he's moved to a room, you can stay with him as long as you'd like."_

"_Thank you, doctor. Than you very much." Shirley said while beaming her thanks from her chair. She hadn't wanted to disturb her sleeping daughter. Had she known Tracy had been awake the whole time, she'd have been quite surprised._

xoxo

_Keith had been moved to a room very late that night. Reuben had taken Laurie and Tracy home to get some sleep and Shirley had stayed with Keith. Reuben checked up on Danny and Chris to find that their friend's parents were willing to keep them for the rest of the next day as well. The rumors had made the rounds of the neighborhood and everyone knew that Keith was in the hospital. The full story was yet to be known, but for now, people were helping where they could._

_By mid-morning, Laurie, Tracy and Reuben were heading back to the hospital. Reuben had tried getting ahold of Mrs. Foster to see if Tracy could stay with them, but they were either gone or not answering the phone. So, rather than spend any more time trying to find someone to take her, he'd decided to bring her along._

_He sweet talked the nurse into letting him take her up to Keith's room saying, 'how much trouble could one well behaved little girl be for three adults'? She had finally given in because she had no desire to become a baby sitter while she was already short staffed._

_They came through Keith's hospital door to find a bruised and battered Keith still lying on the bed unconscious and his exhausted mother sitting worriedly in the chair next to him._

xoxo

Keith felt like he'd been lying in bed next to his little sister for longer than was healthy. He was going to get bedsores if they didn't let him up soon. At first it had been fine; he'd even napped while lying next to her. Now, he was officially bored out of his mind.

"Oh, come on Keith, it's not that bad." Laurie teased. She'd left the room several times to walk around, get lunch and just plain old get a change of scenery. Every time Keith had tried to leave Tracy's side, she'd become agitated.

The doctor had thought it best if he stayed where he was. She should soon be regaining consciousness and Keith shouldn't be trapped there much longer. He was told to be patient. Too bad patience wasn't his strong suit.

xoxo

"_How is he doing?" Laurie asked immediately upon walking in._

"_No change." Shirley reported. "The doctor said that the sooner he wakes up the better."_

_Laurie tried talking to him, but there was no response. She had just moved away to look out the window when Tracy made her move. She just knew that if she could crawl up next to him, that he'd wake up. Just for her._

_When the three adults all congregated by the window to discuss what to do next, Tracy hopped up onto the bed, and avoiding the tubes and wires, curled up next to her brother's warm body. She began to babble in her little girl voice about the family as she remembered it. The family that sang together. The family that traveled on a multi-colored bus to concerts and shows._

_Shirley, noticing that her daughter had crawled up next to Keith and risked disconnecting any one of the many wires or tubes, was about to yell at her when she noticed that Keith's eyes were moving beneath his eyelids. _

_Tracy had stopped talking and was now humming a beautiful tune to her unconscious son. The humming increased the blipping on the monitors and the movement under his eyelids._

"_Tracy, what are you humming?" Shirley asked quietly from right beside her._

"_It's Keith's song." Tracy stopped only long enough to answer before starting to hum again._

"_What is Keith's song?" Shirley asked._

"_He wrote it. It's called 'I Think I Love You'. It sold millions. It's our biggest hit." Tracy told her simply._

xoxo

"Keith, why don't you try singing to her?" Shirley finally suggested as both a way to relieve Keith's boredom and to maybe reach her daughter.

Keith started by humming and then finally began to sing, 'I Think I Love You'. He knew it was Tracy's favorite song.

Within minutes, Tracy's eyelids began to flutter. When Keith excitedly finished the song, her eyes opened all the way and she gave him a sunny smile.

"That was pretty, Keith." Tracy said quietly. "Where are all your bruises?"

"What bruises, Munchkin?" Keith asked.

"You were beat up." Tracy told him.

"What? Tracy, what are you talking about?" Tracy looked over to see her Mom and sister standing next to the bed.

Tracy relayed her fantastical story and was oh so very happy when she was told it was all a dream. Her family even sang her several of their most popular songs to reassure her.

She still wouldn't let Keith leave the bed, but she was happy once again. Her little trip through the looking glass and into a bad fairytale was over.

The End


End file.
